


Alice Unchained Part 1 - Switch

by reallySolidSnake



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:27:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 46,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28049988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reallySolidSnake/pseuds/reallySolidSnake
Summary: With no memory of who she is save for her name, the young and beautiful Alice is kept as a slave in a sleazy club somewhere otherworldly. Goblins and monsters roam free in this world, at least she believes so, having never seen what lies beyond her cold cell and garish cabaret. But when a mysterious mage offers her greatest desire - to escape - Alice will finally be set free into the mysterious land of eternal night.  Though to do so, she must first give into the fearsome beast within.Only then will she find the truth about herself.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**SWITCH**

Were it not for the now noticeable cold of the cell, she would still have thought she was asleep. No one registers the cold in their sleep, but she immediately began shivering as her senses returned to her. She clutched her thin arms around her body and curled up with her legs held close to her core. Her teeth started chattering in rhythm and her skin felt clammy, exposed from what little clothes she had on: a black shirt that went down only to her belly and a pair of black shorts that barely made it to her legs. How anyone could live like this would have eluded her eight months prior, but Alice now knew the answer to that: cold, and tired. Always tired, as her body tried to use what energy it had to keep her from entering a very long and cold sleep. Gods, it was so cold, even colder than normal.

The cell was entirely comprised of stone, which provided no insulation. What she would have done for a bit of carpet. There were no windows to the outside world, so she had no concept of time or place anymore. Alice had not even been outside since she had been captured, had not felt the sweet warmth of fresh air, only hearing mentions of what the outside world was like. While entertaining her clients, she had sometimes heard them speak of the endless night that was the world beyond these walls. Alice was sometimes surprised she understood what they meant, since she understood so little, remembered so little. Her name was the only thing gifted to her upon waking up in this place, but such things began to seem irrelevant after a while.

Alice’s eyes were still shut and her body continued to shudder. Her long blond hair fell on her face and over the side of the bed; it felt stringy and greasy, adding additional annoyance on top of the painful cold she was immersed in. Her toes curled, her fingers dug into her skin and she felt more tired than when she had gone to sleep. Perhaps she had only slept a few minutes, she thought. Alice had no idea one way or the other.

A knock on the wooden door that kept Alice inside the cell stirred her to awareness. Her eyes shot open and she felt the pain of fear in her stomach, or perhaps it was starvation, or both. Alice prayed under her breath to any gods that may be listening to a persona as lowly as her that the man on the other side of the door would be smote where he stood. Alas, another hard knocking on the door was Alice’s answer.

“Aren’t you awake?” came a voice as cold and harsh as Alice felt. “C’mon and get up, we’re busy tonight.” Alice considered throwing a vile curse at the man accosting her, but her lips were as dry as bone and any attempt to move them to speak were for not. As she opened her mouth an attempt to let her feelings on the matter be known, Alice recoiled in pain as her lips cried out in protest. She thought she tasted blood fall on her tongue. “Fine, I’ll just have to make sure you didn’t freeze to death.”

The wooden door flung open and Alice’s eyes went wide. A tall, painfully thin man with stringy hair as thin as his frame stood in the doorway. He wore a long black coat over a tattered gray shirt, with black pants that looked baggy on him despite them being quite small. His shoes were heavily worn and as black as was the rest of his attire, but it was his face that always caught Alice’s attention most. Pale, bony, sunken cheeks and dark bags around his eyes; they were huge. His eyes alone were almost half the length of his head, and as pale as his skin; even his irises were a dull gray. He was Dusev, the “Caretaker”.

The man walked over to Alice’s bed, reaching out his hand to jostle her awake. The girl turned around just before he was able to, her wide open eyes reflexively squinting as even the dim torchlight from outside her cell was enough to sting her unadjusted pupils.

“Ah, you’re still alive,” Dusev drawled. “Good thing. Mr. Worthson would be terribly upset to find that his darling angel had frozen like a cut of cow.”

“Fuck off.” Alice rolled over to the other side, feigning that she was going back to sleep. She knew that there would be consequences for such actions, but these brief and few moments of agency were what kept her going. They did not have _complete_ control over her, and never would.

“What was that?” the man asked, though surprisingly sounding unphased. “You were mumbling, probably because the cold has gotten to your lips. At least you’ve got some time for makeup to take care of that. Now,” he leaned down next to Alice’s head, cupping his ear, “what was that again, dear?”

Alice whirled around on her side and spat in his face, though only a few drops came out since she was so parched. “Fuck. Off,” she snarled.

Dusev recoiled and laughed, weak and rasping. “Sweet gods, it’s a good thing I like you, Alice... and that you’re off limits to lowly workers like meself. Otherwise I’d be training you to mind that curt tongue of yours.” Alice’s only response was a pleased, curling grin. The man reciprocated. “You really are too good for that rabble, Angel,” he said, sounding genuine.

“Then perhaps you can let me go back to bed? I am too good for them, after all.” Alice sat up on her bed, purposely faster than her body desired. Pain in all her back muscles was her punishment. “Wouldn’t want the clients to start having expectations the master can’t attend to.”

“Sorry, Angel, but he was the one that authorized it. Now,” he gestured his hand forward, smiling his crooked smile, “come with me. Makeup awaits you.” 

Alice’s cocky attitude disappeared as she looked down to his hand and then back to him. “Worth a shot, right?” she asked meekly, forcing a sheepish grin.

“No.” Dusev’s expression soured. “I’m afraid not, Angel. Come.” Alice’s head lowered and she took his hand in hers. He gripped it tight and pulled her to her feet with just enough strength to jostle her. “Good girl,” he growled. “It would be good for you to at least try to be in an agreeable mood tonight-“ He was cut off by a punch to the jaw that threw his head back and caused him to growl again in pain. “What the hell?” He looked back to see Alice breathing heavily, glowering at him with fire in her eyes. She cried out and threw another punch but her arm was caught in mid-air. Alice struggled against it with what little might was left in her body but the larger man was unphased as he tightened his grip on her arm as if he meant to break it. “Admirable, at least,” he said, his tone unshaken by her resistance, “that you would still put up a fight after all this time. If only you put this much effort into your work. We’d be bathing in coin.”

“Let me go, you bastard!” Alice continued to struggle before she was grabbed by the throat and hoisted into the air. The man did not apply enough pressure to choke her, only restricting her airflow slightly, but continued to crush her forearm, making her gasp in pain.

“You’re lucky your pretty face is so valuable. Otherwise, you’d have been lashed so much by now there’d hardly be a face left. And personally,” he brought Alice right into his face, staring directly into her deep blue eyes, “I’m getting tired of giving you such special treatment!” He cast her to the ground, rendering her sprawled on the floor, a position she was very familiar with. “You may be Mr. Worthson’s Angel, but you’re just another one of the girls to me. I’m sick of treating you like priceless goods!” Dusev grabbed Alice by her flowing blond hair and started dragging her into the hall, prompting screams of pain and defiance upon more vile swearing. As they passed by other locked doors, Alice knew that she would be waking up the other young men and women trapped in this prison of avarice. She was aware of how much they needed their sleep, but at the moment Alice did not care at all. She screamed and hollered like a child but swore like a sailor. The man whirled around, glowering at her as he shouted, “Will you shut up!?”

“Piss off and let me go!”

“This isn’t your first time, Alice! I was hoping you were finally getting used to it!” He yanked on her hair with great strength causing Alice to wail in pain. Small strands of her golden locks tore off her head and stuck to his pasty fingers. “When are you going to learn your place?”

“Never!”

“Oh, shut it, you brat!” The man dragged her faster across the floor and down the hall. Moments later, the muffled sounds of cheering began to cut through Alice’s cries. Her screaming quickly stifled as she came up to another door, this one more ornate than the others separating her from the cells. “The first act will be done in a few minutes,” the man said. “Makeup is already waiting for you. Don’t go screaming through your treatment, we don’t want it to be smeared.” 

He opened the door, revealing a small room lit with scented candles. A mirror and vanity were the only defining features apart from a wardrobe standing across from it. In the middle of the room were two women slightly older than Alice, standing back straight and their hands folded in front of them. Their eyes were just as large and their skin just as pale as Dusev’s. “Nusa, Layle, take care of her,” he groaned, and threw Alice to the floor in the prep room. “She’s feeling feisty tonight, so don’t let her act up.” He quickly left the room, scoffing as he walked off with his feet clicking against the stone floor. At least she was no longer being dragged by her hair, Alice thought.

Nusa, a pudgier woman with greying hair despite her not being much older than Alice, took Alice’s hand and helped her off the floor. “We could hear you from all the way down the hall,” she said. Her voice was hard and raspy. “It’s good to see you still have your will, but please try not to set a bad example for the other girls.” Nusa led Alice to the chair in front of the mirror as Layle prepared some cosmetic products. “They aren’t treated as specially as you are, Alice.”

“I know,” she replied plainly, “but I can’t let them even think they’ll break me. They can make me do anything they want and they’ll still be cursed by me for it.”

“We are well aware,” Layle interjected. She was a bony woman with black hair almost completely shaven off, leaving only a thin layer covering her head without reaching the neck. “Most of the men here would be taken aback by your mouth, young lady, and that is saying something.”

Nusa took a comb and began to run it through Alice’s bright golden hair while Layle prepared some blush. Alice stared into the mirror deeply. She had not looked at herself for likely about a day, she was not quite sure. Her hair was completely disheveled yet had not lost its distinct glow, almost glimmering in spite of how dirty and tangled it was. Her face was smooth like a doll; her complexion practically untouched by the trials and tribulations of her living arrangements and occupation. And her eyes, while not nearly as big as the people around her, were still wide, bright and a vibrant deep blue, unlike the greys and hazels of everyone else. 

“Who taught you to swear like that, Alice?” Layle asked politely as she began lightly applying blush to Alice’s cheeks.

“If only they were as adept at teaching you how to manage this rat’s nest you call hair,” Nusa added.

“Would you believe I simply know how?” Alice asked through gritted teeth, the comb constantly catching on her tangles.

“You can tell us, hon,” Layle said, putting the blush down and reaching for mascara. “It’s nothing that will get anyone in trouble.”

“Alright, alright.” She closed her eyes in preparation for the makeup. “It was Ninza.”

“Ninza?” Nusa asked. “That does make sense. She never was the most refined lady.”

“She is-“ Alice cut off as the comb hit another tangle, “-quite nice though.”

“She is, just not very refined.”

With Alice’s eyes closed, Layle applied even more makeup, making the areas around her eyes look black and glossy. “Are you… ready for your performance tonight, Alice?”

Alice did not open her eyes to look at her Layle, but the muscles in her face did twitch at the question. “Of course,” she replied, her voice having the slightest bit of shaking. 

“Are you sure, hon?” Layle pulled back from the girl to look at her work. Noticing this, Alice then opened her eyes, seeing her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was coming together into a series of styled waves, like water. Her cheeks were rosy, even youthful, contrasting the decidedly more mature makeup around her eyes. The heavy eyeliner portrayed her role more accurately than the blush did: the image of a young girl caught up in a woman’s world, and a woman’s work. The image made her want to cry, even die right there; simply smote by some god and brought into the afterlife, whatever it may be. Even some sort of hell would surely be better than this.

Though through all this, Alice did not cry. No tear escaped her eyes to tarnish her makeup. That would show them that felt, and if she felt, she could be broken. Alice had decided moments after first waking up that would not be broken, not even cracked or damaged. She would stand her ground and stand tall whenever she could. This was one of those times. 

“I’m going to be fine, Layle,” she said, though she did not move her eyes from the mirror. “There’s nothing they can do to me that they haven’t already.”

“Alice…” Nusa began but trailed off. “Well…”

Alice then turned her blue eyes from the mirror to Nusa, her expression suddenly piercing in the way that it seemed like, out of all the other girls, only she could make. “What?”

Nusa could not meet her gaze for more than a could seconds before taking a sudden interest in the floor. “You see, dear…”

“What is it?” Alice interjected.

“Alice,” Layle said, “just…” she put a hand on the younger girl’s chin, forcing a smile, “…keep that same bravado of yours.”

"What are you talking about?” Layle did not respond, taking an interest in the floor like Nusa. “What is it, Layle?” Alice’s tone grew dark as her makeup.

“We are not at liberty to say.”

“Horseshit.”

“Truly,” Nusa said. “We cannot talk about it. Just be prepared.”

Alice’s teeth gritted, as she looked to Nusa. “For what?”

“Anything, dear.”

“I always am,” she responded resolutely, standing to her feet. “I learned to be very quickly. Now just get me a damn dress.”

Layle and Nusa looked to each other uncomfortably. They then let their eyes become downcast and went to the wardrobe, coming back with a set of black bands of cloth someone would jokingly call a dress. Alice was more surprised by the fact that she was not surprised at all. She stripped out of her rags and allowed them to garb her in the clothing. One band went across her modest breasts, covering about half of the area. Another crossed her navel, and the third covered her womanhood while leaving her legs and most of her rear exposed. When they were done, Layle and Nusa stepped back to look at her, her beauty on almost full display.

Tears came to Layle’s eyes and she covered her mouth. “I am so sorry for this, Alice. So, so sorry.”

Alice’s expression was that of a stone. “I know,” she replied with a tone as cold as her eyes’ gaze.

“Please,” Nusa pleaded, “just go along with whatever they want. You’re too valuable to for them to hurt you if you don’t act up.”

“You do not need to inform me. I have this under control, you two, really.”

“We know,” Layle added. “It still pains us.”

Alice paused for a moment, her expression softening ever so slightly. “Thank you,” she said, quietly, breathy, “and I am sorry for that too.”

A pounding knock came from the wooden door. “Hey!” shouted a deep, guttural voice. “Showtime’s in five! Wrap it up now!”

The three women looked at each other. While Layle and Nusa looked downcast, Alice straightened her back and adopted a more neutral expression. With her high heels clicking she stoically walked to the door, hips swaying as she did. She appeared completely unphased by her situation, though not so deep down she was experiencing a painful combination of seething anger and gut churning fear. Her hand reached for the door knob but it seemed that the door was getting farther and farther away from her. It was as if the door was shrinking, or perhaps slinking away from her hand. 

After what felt like a minute, Alice’s hand took hold of the metal knob, but her muscles suddenly clenched in her wrist. Her hand would not obey her orders to simply turn it, for it was as if her body was acting on its own, knowing that the prospect of not knowing what lay ahead for her was truly terrifying. It was feeling Alice had grown unaccustomed to as of late; something she had not felt since her early days in this hellhole: the painful fear of the unknown. _Damn you,_ she cursed herself. _Just open the door and get this over with. There’s nothing more they can do to you that they haven’t done already._

Relieving Alice of the incredible responsibility of opening a door, it suddenly flung open and revealed the source of the guttural, gargling voice. Standing to about Alice’s chest was a dark, dank green humanoid. He was fat and stubby with small squinting eyes and a bald head. He wore an ornate suit colored like mud and adorned his wrinkled, putrid face with a sickening grin as he stared up at the scantily clad girl. He was a goblin named Rufer, and his personality was as repulsive as his name, though Alice knew that there were parts of him that were even worse. “You are very late.”

“A girl needs her time to pretty up,” Alice replied strongly, walking by him without even looking in the eye. She started heading down the hall toward the continued sound of cheers, and what sounded like a girl crying and screaming.

“You were taking quite a long time, Alice,” Rufer said as his stubby legs tried to keep up with the girl’s quickening pace, “so the patrons started getting a bit restless. The girl preceding you sadly wasn’t quite up to par with her singing.” 

Alice’s pace increased until she was now in as much of a run as possible given her high heels. Rushing by other makeup rooms, Alice came upon another door at the end of the hall. She could now hear what the crowd was shouting about in clearer detail as she pressed her ear to the door, and what she head only made both side of her internal anger and fear skyrocket in intensity.

From beyond the door were cheers of the utmost vulgarity, chanting in unison over the embarrassment of some poor girl. Alice knew she was the main event, she always was. For whatever reason it was that she was so different in appearance from anyone else, it made her invaluable to her “employers”. The “Angel Slut” always drew a crowd, and some innocent girl out there was paying the price for Alice’s tardiness. She had to stop this quickly.

“Go out there,” Alice said to Rufer, making sure her eyes did not meet his, “and get that girl off the stage. Tell them I’m coming on.”

“Oh, you are, yes. I was simply accompanying you to make sure you reached your spot before going on. We have a bit of a special show planned for tonight.”

Alice knew this was coming but she still cringed at the thought of what he could possibly mean. “What’s so special about tonight?”

“Oh, you’ll see, sweetness.” Rufer opened the door himself, revealing the backstage of the cabaret’s main hall. He motioned to a staircase to their left with a grin. “Up you go, now. The technicians will assist you there.”

“Assist with what?” Alice looked out to the stage, seeing a gangly girl with thin brunette hair desperately trying not to cry as her attempts to placate the impatient audience went undesired. Some booed her, others heckled her vilely, others still threw food and dishes at her. Alice knew this girl; her name was Namine, and she was one of her best friends. All apprehension suddenly faded away as her blood began to boil seeing her friend treated this way. Alice grabbed Rufer by the collar and pulled him to his tiptoes, but he still only grinned. “The fuck is she doing out there!?”

“My, my, I usually have to pay for something like this!” Rufer exclaimed in delight. “Although I’d love to stay and enjoy myself, we are on a tight schedule-“ Rufer suddenly hurled to the ground when Alice slashed at his face with her nails, drawing a small amount of blood. Rufer looked to her for a moment, astonished, but then his grin changed to a scowl. “You little bitch!” he shouted, getting his voice above the ever increasing heckling. “If you weren’t such a valuable asset to the company, you’d be in for a world of pain for the next week! Just look what you’ve done to my face!”

“Your face already looked so much like horseshit that no one will even notice,” Alice smirked proudly.

“Why you…!”

“Now get going,” Alice pointed over her shoulder to the stage. “Get her out of here and I’ll do my thing. Just get out of my sight before I just might kill you right now.”

Rufer stood to his feet and raised a fat hand to strike her but Alice did not respond at all. She knew that the employees of the cabaret could not ever hurt her, she was just too valuable. Rufer paused for a moment then sighed in defeat. “You’re lucky you’re the face of the company, Alice.”

“I get that a lot. Now piss off.” Rufer spat at her feet and walked to the stage in a huff, with Alice watching his stunted legs waddle indignantly. In spite of her fear of what may soon befall her, Alice could not help but smirk. As she made her first steps toward the staircase, the crowd began cheering again as Rufer walked into the light, attempting to placate the audience as he ushered Namine off the stage. As Alice took her first few steps up the staircase, Namine came running back from the stage trying to repress her crying but failing. 

“Namine!” Alice called out, rushing back down the stairs to her friend. Namine turned to see Alice through large, bleary eyes running to her and then embracing her quickly. She pulled back and asked, “Are you alright? Did they hurt you?”

Namine wiped her tear stricken face with her arm, trying to calm herself. “Just my pride. Mostly.”

“Mostly?”

“Some jerkoff threw a shoe at me, but that’s it.” She faked a laugh before getting choked up again.

Alice’s scowl remained as she heard the ruckus going on in the crowd, with Rufer telling obscene jokes about the girls employed there in order to maintain their attention. “Get back to your room,” she addressed Namine, “get some food and rest. I’ll be with you soon.”

“Alice, that could only put you in more danger!”

“Fuck that,” she replied confidently. “There’s nothing they can do to hurt me without getting kicked to the curb by the boss.”

“Even talking to me right now could…why? Why are you doing this?” 

Alice squeezed her friend’s shoulders to reassure her. “Because like I said, they can’t hurt me.”

“Yes they can, Alice!”

Alice shushed her playfully but compassionately and let her go, smiling as best she could. “Just get some rest, Namine. It’s okay now.”

The other girl paused for a moment, then hung her head and nodded. Alice watched her intently, awaiting her friend to take her leave so they would not get in more trouble, though she did not have the heart to say it. “Okay. Just be safe.”

“Promise, now go.” Namine walked off toward the door, still holding back her tears as she held her hand to her mouth. Alice breathed a sigh of relief as she was now able to continue her work. She cared for her friend deeply, but the consequences for tardiness were dire and she wished to evade them at any cost. She had already spent too much time talking with her and mentally berated herself for it. 

It was going to be a long night.

Following this, Alice walked up the metal stairs as she heard the crowd grow more impatient. A part of her enjoyed that she could at least impart some level of discomfort and dissatisfaction on them, but the rest of her knew that it would only make her job more difficult, whatever this job may be. The pit of her stomach tied itself in a knot and her feet faltered slightly; it was then she heard two raspy, guttural voices coming from the top of the stairs.

Goblins, obviously, she concluded. This only gave her a more intense combination of discomfort and fear. They were not clients, so they must be technicians, but what they were needed for Alice did not want to find out. She reached the top of the stairs after what felt like at least an hour and saw the two goblins arguing over some sort of harness. Both grimy monster-men were vilely discussing Alice’s tardiness, and although she wanted nothing more than to run back to her room, she needed to stand with head held high, if only to inspire the other unlucky ladies.

“Ahem,” Alice coughed loudly to get their attention. The goblins turned to face her, both looking almost exactly like Rufer, only with different skin tones of vomit green, but such observations were considered insensitive at best. “I’m here,” she said resolutely, “now get me ready for whatever it is we’re doing.”

“We don’t take orders from you!” said the one on the right, holding a very uncomfortable looking harness. His voice was deeper than Rufer’s and sounded like his mouth was perpetually full of bile. “Where have you been, slut?”

“Putting on my face, and do not call me that.”

“Why?” asked the other goblin, sounding younger with a higher pitched voice, but no less disgusting sounding. “It’s your stage name, and we’re on a stage.”

“Because Mr. Worthson will hear about how you tried to damage the goods if you do _anything_ to offend me again.”

“You can’t do that! We ain’t done nothing!”

“And make sure you continue to do nothing.” Alice walked over to the one with the harness and stretched out her arms. She had seen a couple girls do this before, though Alice had no training in the act herself, which only confused her more. On rare occasions, some girls would be suspended in mid-air with such a harness and glide about the stage. The act was not overtly sexual in any way so Alice wondered as to the significance of it. “Well? Hook me up.”

“Of course,” said the older goblin, “but you will not need your arms to be spread like that. Put them down please.”

“Huh?” 

“Put your arms down, please.” Alice raised an eyebrow but obeyed, letting her arms fall to her sides. She felt a thick sausage like finger rub against her cheek on the other side and flicked her head to escape the other goblin’s advances. They had not paid; they were workers, not patrons. Alice did not need any more attention from goblins then was absolutely necessary. 

The goblin on her left slipped the harness over her arms. It was tight and the wool-like fabric was course on her skin; she could already feel multiple spots where her skin was starting to burn from the rubbing. The goblin securing the harness mumbled something under his breath; something about how Alice’s “pillows” were easier to secure than the last girl was all she could hear. To her right, the same thick, grimy finger poked her cheek again and this time rubbed the fingertip against her lips. Even the oh so slight hint of the taste of the goblin’s flesh was enough to make Alice cringe and her stomach churn in disapproval. The goblin was trying to insert his finger into her mouth and Alice’s attempts to stop this were proving fruitless as she could feel the tip of his fingernail scraping against her lip. 

Alice’s mood was already far from agreeable, but this was putting her over the edge. It was a violation of her personal space, but it also felt like more of a taunt, teasing her helplessness as her arms were completely immobile now. Harsh iron cuffs held her forearms behind her back, making it impossible to move in any substantial way. Alice then felt the goblin that was not still rubbing her face and mouth put similar cuffs on her calves, spaced apart just enough that she could stand upright. Humiliating was the word for it. _I. Hate. Goblins._ The green beast on her left tried once again to force his finger into her mouth, but Alice recoiled just in time, gritting her teeth as she now faced her other captor. The goblin to her right just chuckled to himself as he looked her in her vibrant blue eyes. The goblin to her left raised an eyebrow at her response but then smirked, running his fat hand through her golden locks. Alice closed her eyes so she did not have to look at the other goblin anymore, but her anger at her situation continued to grow as the one on the left caressed and pulled her hair. He then brought his hand back once again and slowly extended a finger toward her, bringing it toward her mouth. The taste of his flesh remained on her lips and his stench stayed in her nose. Her stomach lurched again not with disgust, just anger. _Screw it._

Alice threw her head back to her left and bit down on the air so hard her teeth almost cracked. She had missed the goblin’s thick, stubby finger by less than an inch and the beast man recoiled in shock, visibly appalled and surprised. This image was enough to make Alice smirk with a devilish grin. Even with her straggly golden bangs falling over her face, the goblin could see her sickeningly self-satisfied smirk. His dark gray void-like eyes widened again and then narrowed into a scowl. Alice could not help but laugh to herself as she turned her head aside, only to be cut off by a slap to her face from his coarse, fat hand.

Before she could act, a cloth gag was violently forced over her mouth. Alice struggled against it but the stench that rose off of it and into her nose and mouth quickly began to dull her senses. Must have been some sort of insurance in case she acted up, she concluded as her vision became blurred and shapeless, like looking through murky water.

Alice’s surroundings became infested in fog as did her thoughts. Her eyelids became heavy and her legs felt as if any muscles she had were being drained out of her body. Alice felt herself slowly falling to a kneeling position but was forcefully picked back up to her feet. The goblin on the right grabbed her hair and pulled her close to him, whispering in her ear, “Do not go to sleep, girl. The show must go on.”

Suddenly, the ground was no longer beneath her. Alice was suspended in mid-air by chains wrapped around her body; she was held aloft in the rafters, fifty feet above the stage. Rufer said something about “the main event”, but Alice’s hearing was as clouded as her vision. She then was moved forward through the air slowly, the rough iron chains rubbing into her body with every inch she progressed. One part of her left forearm suddenly felt damp, and even in her foggy mental state she was able to recognize that the chains had broken the skin. 

Alice struggled limply against her restraints as some of her sense began to return. The world around her became more solid and the fogginess dispersed somewhat, revealing in more detail the crowd of people that cheered from far below her. Alice’s eyes opened wide and her breathing became heavy and quick. Tears started to flow down her face, smearing her makeup down her cheeks in thick dark blotches. She tried to bite at the gag, anything to at least loosen it but to no avail. All she could now was hope that her thin body would not slip through the chains; at least they would care about her death more than they would for most of the other girls.

Alice reflexively struggled against her restraints at first as the crowd below hollered up to her, shouting the vilest of compliments and come-on’s to her. She then gazed down on the sea of creatures below her, taking in perhaps the most comprehensive illustration of her life she could have asked for: helplessly held over the swarming masses of beastly patrons like bait for fish. They gazed up at her, most of them wearing masks depicting animals, but the aesthetic was that of something old, decaying, yet most of the masks wore a smirk in spite of it. Alice was not a person to them, but an object, and that is why she acted out so much offstage. Out here, she had no agency or identity beyond everyone’s favorite plaything, but she could at least maintain some semblance of independent personhood when not doing her job.

They called her ornery, raging, spunky if they were of a certain persuasion, but through this Alice had gained even the tiniest speck of respect among the cabaret’s staff, and that was more than almost any other poor girl trapped there could say. But the knowledge that a few people regarded as somewhat of a person did not alleviate the panic that was seeping into her mind. Alice’s body jittered as quickly as her mind raced even when trying to remain still. She thought she felt the chains begin to loosen but decided to believe that it was just her imagination, for acknowledging the possibility would only cause her more strife.

In this humiliating and dire moment, Alice looked up to the rafters and into the bright light that illuminated her. The magefire roaring in the fixtures was hot enough that she could feel the heat from twenty feet below, but that was not what her mind focused on in that moment. _The light_ , she thought, _it’s a tunnel. I’m headed down a tunnel, and at the end is the destination I’ve been travelling to all this time._ More tears fell down her face, but the voices of the patrons below began to drown in her mind; only the voice of her inner self remained. _Once I get out, there will be a field. I can see it! A field of green grass below the starlight, the trees are gently bending in the wind. Gods, it’s beautiful. It’s my new home. No cold stones and grool, but soft grass and fruits to eat. They’re supposed to be juicy, aren’t they? Juicy and sweet, actual flavors! Have I ever tasted anything like that?_ Alice’s imagination began to fall back into her reality; the glimmering vision of her little glade began to fade.

 _No, no, no! Let me stay! I can’t go back, I will not go back! Let me stay, please! I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t make me go back!_ As she was suspended in the air, Alice began to sob as her fantasy collapsed back into reality. The terrible vision of the patrons becoming more excited over her anguish spurred her on to cry deeply into her gag. It muffled her voice and hearing only made her feel like more of a trapped animal amidst a group of hunters. _Let me stay,_ she begged, thought she did not know to whom. _Don’t make me go back… please…_ _I can’t be strong forever. I can’t act this way forever. I need to leave, I need that forest. Just let me stay, I can do anything you want._ The girl’s vision darkened, her body becoming exhausted from the panic. _Thank you… this will do for now._

Alice passed out, going limp in her chains. The world turned to silent black, and not even her beloved forest remained. However, her last thoughts before consciousness left her were not of contempt, but she instead felt content. Even the darkness of the void was preferable to the rows and rows of worthless shit guzzlers her employers called “patrons”.

Alice’s eyes slowly opened, at least she thought they did, but the darkness of the room made her think twice. She felt the muscles in her eyelids move but she could still see nothing. She was laying down flat on her back and her whole body was sore. Trying to turn over caused lines of pain to surge across her body, wrapping around her like chords and making her grit her teeth. _The chains… right._ Alice took a deep breath and forced herself to sit up on the bed. Her body screamed in protest and she grunted in pain through her teeth nut managed to sit upright after a moment of struggling. 

Her eyes now adjusting to the dark, Alice was able to make out the orange light of torches seeping under the door. She was back in her room, her stone cell. Everything was just as she had left it, but how long it had been she could not say. Alice’s mind was still hazy and her body incredibly sore. 

She brought her fingers to the lines on her body that had pained her most and lightly brushed against them, but even touching them as lightly as possible caused the spots to flare up. The skin felt coarse and she could feel a crusty texture along the edges; it was the dried blood. No doubt the wounds would scar, only making her less presentable to the clients. _Why did they let me do that then?_ she wondered. _Maybe my novelty is becoming less so._ _It’s the only reason I can think of why they would let me endure something that could scar me like that. And if they are getting tired of me…_ She shook her head, banishing the thought from her mind. Alice could not let herself think that way, it would mean that they were getting to her. No, not at all. Never. _I am stronger than them, than all of them. If they want to hurt me, I’ll just hurt them a thousand times worse._

Alice chuckled to herself, thinking of all the awful things she would do to the employees and patrons if she were able, but then recoiled in pain as the mere act of laughing caused her wounds to flare up again. “Damn,” she said aloud, and fell back onto the bed. “Happiness was never a perk here.”

Alice closed her eyes as the pain subsided, falling back into the exhaustion that had not yet left her even after her nap. _Maybe this time I’ll wake up in a real bed, and this nightmare will be over. A soft, warm bed in a real bedroom. Even if I’m on my own, I’d take it without a thought. It would be better than this. Anything would._

Alice felt sleep begin to take her when the door to her cell suddenly flung open, jolting her awake. Her eyes immediately widened in fear but then reflexively closed as the bright magelight poured into her room, stinging her eyes.

“No need to hide those eyes,” came a raspy voice Alice immediately recognized. “They’re so lovely after all.”

 _Worthson,_ Alice thought. Had she said it aloud it would have been more of an animalistic growl than an actual word. _Come to take me away? Get ready to have those huge goblin globes you call eyes grabbed from your skull and stomped on_. “W-w-what do you need of me, sir?” Alice asked sheepishly to keep her out of trouble for the time being.

Mr. Worthson was a goblin like Rufer, though his skin was less the color of vomit and more like a toad, warts and all. He was much older than the other goblins employed there, but he was also the strongest. This was the reason Worthson was the only person Alice had never hurt, though she had fantasized about it hundreds of times. He was every bit as ugly as Rufer inside and out, but in her experience, most goblins were almost indistinguishable from each other apart from their differing skin colors of brownish green. 

Worthson laughed to himself, clutching his belly as he did. “I don’t know what the hell you were talking about, Macaiah. She seems perfectly amicable.” The man from before the show, the girls’ “caretaker” Macaiah, walked into view from behind the doorframe, looking exactly as he had before. 

“She was kicking and screaming like a banshee earlier, sir,” he deadpanned.

“Most women do that with you. I don’t consider it proof enough that my little angel has been behaving as anything but.”

 _Your little angel is going to rip out your eyes and cram them up your disgusting ass._ Alice truly hated that nickname beyond her capacity for words. “Is there anything you need from me, sir?” she tried to steer the conversation back around to end it as quickly as possible.

“Nothing I need, dear. It’s your newest client that is in need of your assistance.”

 _Fucking… ugh._ _Okay, hopefully he’s here because he can’t get any women to stay with him after getting in bed and this will only be a twenty-minute job. Hopefully._ “Yes, sir,” Alice replied weakly.

“Excellent, now go to room 43. He is waiting for you there. And please, try to be in a good mood, Angel. We need to always- “

“Maintain the company reputation, yes,” Alice interjected, sounding more annoyed than she had intended. She immediately cursed herself for her tone and was grabbed by the hand. 

Worthson’s warty mitts squeezed her pale, dainty hand just enough that it made her wince. Alice looked back to him and he pulled her in closer, staring deep into his frog-like eyes. “A good _attitude_ , Angel. Can you do that?”

Alice’s throat lurched when she smelled his breath, which was bad enough normally without the reek of alcohol. She suppressed her disgust to not provoke him further. “Of course, sir,” she replied. 

“Good. Now apologize.”

_I’m sorry I haven’t been able to kill you yet._ “I am sorry for my behavior, sir. Please forgive me.” 

“You are forgiven.” Worthson let her go and shooed her away.

Alice left her caretaker and employer in her room, still trying not to gag on the stench of Worthson’s breath. Her bare feet lightly clapped against the cold stone floor. She trudged slowly on toward her destination, for avoiding as much as possible whatever old man that smelled of death and pipe weed that had requested her was her priority, overtaking her discomfort she felt from the freezing cold under her feet. 

A few painful moments of shuffling her dainty feet later, Alice came upon the private wing of the cabaret. She concluded she must not have been asleep for too long once she heard the ever fake moans of pleasure coming from behind the muted red wood doors. Only four of the ten rooms in the hall were being used, but she still heard plenty of revolting groans and moans of the men and monsters receiving the cabaret’s services. _Truly, old men should not be allowed to have sex. Gods, at least try not to sound like a rabid animal, have some damn self-awareness when you’re squeeling like the pig you are._

Alice rounded the corner and came upon her designated hall. Room 43 came up on her left and she breathed deeply. Her womanhood was still sore from her last client the previous shift, and this would only prolong things. She let out a long breath and cracked her knuckles in faux determination, then slowly opened the door.

The routine she would go through was difficult and awkward to learn, but now it was about as procedural and boring as factory work. The script was simple and easily memorized, allowing her to spend her time being used thinking about anything else. All she needed to was fake a moan every once in a while. 

Alice opened the door slowly; it creaked and scraped along the stone floor. There was a soft firelight illuminating the room, more orange than the normal red of magelight. Alice quietly peered into the room, seeing the finely furnished bed in the middle with a small vanity and wardrobe to the right. A thin man lay on the bed, engrossed in a book that obscured his face. _The Maid Over the Fence_ was his choice of erotic literature; a selection was provided to clients if they were feeling more romantic when arranging an appointment. It was schlock, yes, but at better than most schlock the cabaret had on offer.

“It’s rather different from the typical experience here, isn’t it?” the man asked. His voice was sophisticated and articulate, and younger than Alice expected. Few young men ever came to this place, with the cabaret having the reputation of being a meeting place for aging men and beasts of business rather than fornicating with a passing barwench like what young men typically search for. “There is such a mutual passion between Caranin and Dis, especially in this chapter. I’m at the scene where Dis leaves his father’s house party to meet with Caranin in secret, and she is going to tell him that she desires a baby even though it would be unwise, to say the least.”

“I am familiar with it, sir,” Alice said meekly, as she was instructed to as to hide her personality. “I have read that book more than once.”

“Not a bad one, isn’t it?” The man lowered the book, revealing his face to Alice. His hair was orange, but not the soft hue of the flame of the lamp on the nightstand next to him. His hair was a vibrant shade, like his head was an inferno raging through a thick forest. His long hair framed his face, and Alice saw that he was young, very young. As young as her, she thought, though she did not even know her real age. His face was smooth and pale, and his eyes were smaller than most of the other people, resembling a grayish gold version of Alice’s unordinarily eyes. The mysterious young man wore a tight black shirt that exposed his muscular chest in a plunging neckline, and he wore dark blue pants to compliment in both color and tightness. “This book is full of the sappiest dialogue, yes, but at least the characters are interesting enough to keep on invested.”

“I agree wholeheartedly.” _Is he putting on a show? Why is he flirting with me? They pay up front, so there’s no reason to waste time with pleasantries._ “I hope the rest of the accommodations are to your appreciation, sir. We work very hard to maintain our reputation.”

“Honestly, I think this place is a shithole.” _Um, what?_ “Do you not agree?”

 _Wholeheartedly._ “No, not at all. Why would you say that, sir?”

The man cleared his throat. “Sorry, I haven’t even introduced myself yet.” He stood to his feet with a confident swagger and smirk. “I’m Oni, and I say proudly that you, Alice, are trapped in a shithole.” Alice was growing more confused by the second, but she was not lacking for enjoyment in the attitude of this strange young man. “Such a den of vices is no place for a beautiful angel such as yourself. I know your story, kid, I know how you got here.”

“How?” Alice dropped the coy act and spoke with her normal, more steadfast tone of voice. “Did you ask about me or something?”

“I did, and that Worthson creature was happy to indulge me. Such a repulsive goblin, but at least he had a good sense of humor,” Oni glanced to an almost empty glass of wine on the vanity, “and a mind for vintages.”

“Did you really just come here to make chitchat, Mr. Oni?” Alice sauntered over to her client, swaying her modest hips as she did. _This never feels any less awkward no matter how many times I do it._ She put her hands around his neck and smiled up to him, showing her red glossy lips. “Or perhaps you are in need of some other service?”

“Actually, no, dear.” Oni took her hands from his neck and crossed his arms, looking up and down her body with the same smirk. “I’m here to offer my talents to you.”

“What do you mean?” _Gods, who is this jackass? I can’t tell if he wants to sweep me off my feet or if he’s just a really overly confident predator._

“I mean that tonight, you’re getting out of here, Alice.”

The statement stunned the girl to the point that she could not think. Her mind blanked, voiding itself of any thought or awareness until she shook her head to bring herself back to her senses. “W-what? What the hell are you saying? Don’t you dare mess with me like that, I’m not paid to put up with that kind of bullshit!”

“Are you even paid at all, apart from table scraps and cheap makeup?”

“Cut the swagger and get out of here! I’m not gonna take any of this crap!” Alice stormed back to the door but was stopped as her hand reached the knob. It suddenly grew hot in the room, very hot, and with it the knob. The metal seared her fingers and she yelped in pain, grabbing her hand as she recoiled back. Alice turned on her heels, eyes wide with fear as she took in the flames of the candles, now roaring with their peak’s inches above the wax. Oni looked at her with a self-satisfied grin; he held his hand up in front of him and then whisked it downward, and the flames all went out.

“Forgive my posturing, but it seemed the best way to get your attention. I assure you, I’m not quite that much of a show-off normally. Well, mostly.” Oni chuckled at his own joke, which only further aggravated Alice.

“You come in here, pay for my services, mock my life circumstances, nearly burn my hand off and all you do is joke?”

“Alice, we both know you’re exaggerating on that last part.” Oni’s incessant smirking only fueled the girl more.

“Just shut up and get out of here, you creep! And stop smiling or I’ll rip your lips off your mouth!”

“Ah, there she is!” Oni exclaimed jovially. “That’ exactly why I wanted you specifically. You’re not afraid to speak your mind unlike every other girl here. And you’re obviously creative, which I highly value.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about and I don’t want to. Now get out of here before every bouncer in this building beats you into a bloody puddle.”

“You, sweetheart, are only proving my point.” Still smirking, Oni walked over her way. Not caring enough to see what he was thinking of doing, Alice simply opened her hand and slapped him across the cheek. He recoiled, holding his hand to the new red mark on his face.

“That’s a light lover’s kiss compared to what you’re about to get.”

“Just listen, girl!” Oni exclaimed. Alice, instead of slinking back in fear as would have been expected when a woman angers a much stronger man, only smirked at him. _It does feel good when someone else is on the receiving end._ “I am trying to help you!”

“How? Gonna try to buy me off of Worthson? There’s no way you have enough money to persuade him of that. I don’t know what kind of drugs you’ve been taking, but you’re gonna be happy you had them, so you don’t feel as much of the boots kicking your teeth down your throat!”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down there, Alice, and let me explain.” Oni cleared his throat unconvincingly. “I know how they treat you here, Alice. And I also know that you have no idea how you got here in the first place.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about your life until this point, as painful a life as it’s been. Living in this prison of vice and forced to serve out your sentence catering to a bunch of socially and mentally challenged old men.” Oni moved his body confidently as he spoke, as if this speech was prepared beforehand, only making Alice more agitated and paranoid. Though she admitted to herself that he spoke the truth, at least in some capacity. “I come offering respite from all this, out of the goodness of my heart.”

“Bullshit.”

“Yeah, you are a smart one.” Oni sits back down on the bed with his hands folded, his smirk returning to his face. Alice had half a mind to forcibly remove it again until he spoke up. “Yes, there is something I will require of you after freeing you, but I believe it would be more advantageous to hold that information for now.”

“And what makes you think I’ll just waltz out of here with a creep like you?”

“One, it’s your job currently.”

_I’m going to murder him._ “Very funny.”

“Indeed.” He looked her dead in the eyes, his grey irises completely still. “Two, I have a certain gift for you that will be more than enough persuasion.”

Alice’s eyebrow raised in suspicion, but the man’s confidence in his position was obvious. Either he was just a good actor and perhaps a serial killer, or he really did have something he could bribe her with. Against her better judgment, Alice then asked, “What is this gift?” 

Oni chuckled again; the frequency of his cocky laughs was getting increasingly annoying to Alice. “I’m glad you asked.” Oni stood to his feet and walked over to a candle. He reached out his bare fingers and plucked at the flame. A small flicker of fire was then suspended in between his index finger and thumb, completely harmless to him. “There are powers in this world beyond that of money, Alice, and I am in possession of a great deal of these powers. Pyromancy is obviously one of them, but there is another which is far more easily transferred from person to person. Rather than spending years studying scrolls and arts in order to conjure even a small suspended candlelight to read more scrolls by, I need only your permission and the strength you seek to free you from this prison is yours.”

Oni walked to Alice, holding out the flame in his fingers. He then waved his hand and the fire roared to life and shifted in the air, stretching and bending until it read her name, about the length of her wingspan. What surprised the girl even more was that although the fire was only a foot away from her, she felt no heat. 

“That’s amazing,” she said with held breath.

“Touch it,” Oni said confidently. “It won’t harm you at all. Trust me.”

“Are you sure?”

“The first thing you need to get out of this shithole is to trust me. Start by reaching out and grabbing the flame. No harm will come to you by me.”

Alice’s eyes were wide as she watched the flaming scrawl shift in colors. Throughout the flames were blues, purples and oranges all flowing in and out of each other like a creek of oil paint. The image was alluring, and perhaps the most beautiful thing she could remember seeing. She reached a single finger out ever so slowly and barely graved the “A” in her name with her fingertip. She felt a subtle warmth, like that of one of the other girls’ bodies in the cabaret in the scant few times one of them had cuddled her to sleep. The warmth was soothing to the touch, and she then le the tips of all five of her fingers on her left hand reach out and feel the flame. “It’s beautiful.”

“I know.”

“How are you doing this?”

Oni chuckled again. “Practice, Alice, and just a bit of talent.”

“But this is not what you’re offering me,” she looked to him away from the flames.

“Correct. I offer something else entirely.” Oni waved his hands again and Alice recoiled as the flames took on a watery texture and movement again, then solidifying into another shape. It was he face. “This is you, as you have lived since arriving. You are in pain, alone, and cold. There is nothing but sorrow for you here. However,” Oni snapped his fingers and the image shifted, “the powers that be have found their way to you tonight, Alice.” Her face shifted into something different. It was her, and yet not her. She wore a terrifying scowl, like that of an animal. Her hair was still perfectly wavy, but there seemed to be splotches of blood throughout the golden locks. But what she took notice of most was what seemed to be dark shapes creeping up her shoulders and across her face from her eyes. “You live in a prison of monsters, it is time you become the monster, and make those you fear cower under your gaze.” 

Alice could not believe her ears, but her eyes showed her something more easily believable: the image in the flames, and Oni’s confident gaze. She stood still as stone for a long moment, her eyes shifting between the flames and Oni’s face. “I have desired that for so long,” Alice said, her tone softening, “but it isn’t possible. It can’t be possible.”

“What is possible in a world of magic is a matter of imagination, Alice. All you need, with the proper training, is to do see it in your mind, and you can bring it forth roaring into reality. The power I offer is limited only by your imagination and resolve. Will you accept?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do,” Oni said. “You do know. And if I am lying, then you will simply send your guards after me and I will be killed far deceiving you. Either way, Alice, you win.”

The mysterious man’s words were enticing yet still concerning. “I don’t know a thing about you,” Alice replied dryly. “I don’t know who you are, where you came from, or why you’re here. I don’t know…” her voice trailed off as she tried to find more things she did not know.

“And yet you have just grabbed a raging flame with your bare hand, Alice. I gain nothing from hurting you.”

“But why me?”

“That is the final piece of the puzzle.” He waved his hands and the flame disappeared as if it had never existed. “Mr. Worthson has… connections. Connections I am interested in for my own reason. He is also far more of an amoral bastard than even you know, Alice. And seeing as how you may very well be the only woman left in this place with her free will still in tact, you will prove to be a most useful weapon.” His snark and grin faded, and Oni spoke with the utmost seriousness. “I gain the information I desire, and you gain both freedom and revenge.” He held out his hand to her. “Do we have a deal, Angel Slut?”

“Don’t you dare call me that.”

“Shake my hand and you will never hear those words again.”

_Certainly the best offer I can remember getting._ Alice looked to the floor, pondering her situation. Oni seemed true to his word, but the circumstances of her life had not left her with much trust in her heart. She looked to his outstretched hand and time seemed to slow. Alice felt as if she was staring at a crossroads, two diverging paths along an old dusty road. One road led to a dingy, horrible looking town in the distance, but in spite of all perceptions it was what she knew and understood. The other path led her off into a dark field with no defining details to be seen. She knew nothing of this path, but what was promised at the end of the road was not something she could easily pass up. 

“Just shake your hand?”

“That’s all.”

“And what will I get if I do?”

“Power, Alice. The power of the Demon’s Fist, and with it you will charge out of here not a frightened and abused lamb, but a roaring and invincible lion.”

Alice breathed deeply. All she had was his word, but it was more than she had before she walked into the room. “Fuck it.” Alice extended her hand and shook Oni’s, immediately feeling a heat sear her palm. She tried to recoil but Oni held on tight to her hand. Alice screamed in pain. “What the hell?! You lied!”

“Just hold on another moment!” Suddenly, Alice felt as if a great force had punched her in the gut. In the back of her mind, for a fraction of a second, she suspected that Oni was mugging her, but she saw that he had not moved. The heat began to fade, and the girl fell to her knees as Oni let go of her. A strange and powerful energy fell over her, feeling like an avalanche of rocks had just buried her. Alice’s vision went dark and she collapsed to the floor, twitching and shivering despite feeling hotter than she ever had in her life. 

All was dark and her hearing was muffled so as everything sounded as if it was fifty feet away underwater. She heard Oni mutter something but could not make it out. Alice felt as if she was standing in a great void within herself as all sensation slipped away. _Did he just kill me? Did that lying bastard kill me? Am I dying? Why? Why would he do all this? Why would her promise me freedom just to kill me? Is this some sick fetish of his?_ Alice felt cold, in pain, and alone once again. _Serves me right for believing him, I guess. A client walking into the cabaret promising magic powers and freedom, and I actually bought it. Fucking stupid, Alice. Really great fucking job handling that. You let your emotions go and now you’re dying for it. Fuck you, Alice!_

The lack of sensation she had been feeling gave way to anger; anger at herself, Oni, everyone at the cabaret, be them patron, or employee. She had always hated everything about this place, but now it felt different. Any inhibitions or attempts at graces she had kept before this moment were gone. _Well, it can’t get any worse than dying, can it? If only Worthson could see me now. Gods, I’d make him squeal like his girls, howl in pain as I ripped out his guts! Maybe I’d make him eat it. But what would I do to Rufer? I’d have to think of something special for him and… what the hell am I thinking? I’m not like that! I’m not evil!_

But the image of tearing through her captors stayed firmly planted in her mind, replaying over and over again as her mind created new situations instantaneously. Alice saw herself, cleaver in hand, charging through the halls of the cabaret like a wild tornado. Her expression was maniacal but gleeful, truly enjoying every cut and swipe, every kill, of which there were many and many more. She was shocked at the images her mind conjured, yet with every new scenario, every new victim, her repulsion began to fade at an alarming pace. What would have made her vomit moments ago now elicited a more neutral response. 

Alice watched on from the sidelines as her other self-continued to massacre the patrons and employees. What was once a regal establishment was bathed in blood and sinews, body parts were strewn about in a grotesque mess, and Alice felt a strange contentedness as she took in the sight. She had never truly imagined massacring the cabaret, but it was not an idea without enticing merits. _I don’t think I’m dying. I think this is what Oni is offering me._ She looked over her dream’s doppelganger’s work again, and grinned. Then she chuckled, then she laughed. She clutched her belly and threw her head back as she guffawed with glee, the scents and sounds of death and destruction enveloping her senses. _If this is what that prick has on offer, then I accept. Give it to me! Give me this power! Give me this dream and make it real!_

The room went black as a void again. Alice clenched her teeth as bone chilling cold welled up inside her. She closed her fists so tight her hands began to bleed and she slumped over where she stood. The freezing sensation travelled outward from her core and throughout her body, slinking up her arms like snakes, and the same down through her legs and into her feet.

 _“This is the power that I offer,”_ the voice of Oni said from somewhere in the void. It was as if the sound surrounded her. _“Never again will you live the life of a normal mortal, but you will stride across these lands a force of magic and strength! Embrace this power and fall into the embrace of the Demon!”_

Alice screamed as the biting cold turned to blistering heat in every inch of her being, and it now travelled upward into her face. She felt as if the flesh would melt off her skull, but nothing of the sort happened. Her vision went red as she felt the heat sear her very core, then burst outward in an explosion all through her body. Alice fell to her knees, one fist on the ground and the other hand held close to her chest. 

Alice opened her eyes. She was back in the room and all was quiet. Before her was Oni’s feet, one foot tapping the ground impatiently. Alice felt no cold nor heat in her body. In fact, she felt completely fine.

“Before you ask what happened,” Oni remarked curtly, “look in the mirror.” Alice got to her feet slowly, her muscles feeling stiff and tired, like she had just gone for an extremely long run. She trudged over to the mirror beside Oni and gazed into it, taking in the sight of what was and yet was not her. Her face was pale and gaunt, losing its everlasting luster her skin seemed to always have. Her cheeks had thinned out, giving her a more desperate, animalistic look, as if she had been living on one meal a day. The area around her eyes was a smoky grey, like withered tribal makeup. Not the same pale color of her skin, but darker so it was more pronounced against the almost ghostly white pigmentation. But it was Alice’s eyes themselves that caught her attention most.

In the center of the newly grayed skin was two piercing, orange eyes the colors of the flames Oni had conjured. In the middle of her irises was a small gradient of crimson red that emanated from her black pupils. These were the eyes of something else entirely from any other person or creature she had encountered. Truly, Alice had become some sort of monster.

“What the hell did you do to me?” Alice asked in a whisper without looking at Oni. She brought her fingers to her skin, and she registered that it felt dry and leathery like that of a burn victim.

“Exactly what I said I would. In your blood and spirit is now the power to go forth and claim your freedom, Alice. This metamorphosis is only a biproduct of the new strength coursing through you.”

“I feel as weak as a baby.”

“Well, I never said it would be immediate.” He chuckled to himself.

“You joke at a time like this?” Alice asked sternly, moving her gaze to scowl at him. Her voice seemed deeper and more intimidating than usual.

“I do. It is my humble attempt to diffuse what is obviously a very stressful situation for you.”

“Well, I don’t appreciate it.” _What_ did _he do to me? Obviously something, but what?_ “I can’t go back to work now looking like this, I’d be thrown out to the wolves! You’ve ruined me. You prick, you ruined me! I’m doomed now!” The girl she saw in the mirror was a beast, and Alice felt a fiery fury well up inside of her at the thought that it was her. “ _You doomed me!”_ With eyes snapping shut, reflexively, without a single thought of the potential consequences, Alice punched the mirror with all her might, trying to destroy the image in the hopes that maybe it would bring her back to her normal self. There was a sickening crash and the sound of glass falling to the floor along with a resounding thud coming from the wall and screams of terror from the other side.

Alice opened her eyes and saw the result of her outburst: the mirror was destroyed, glass shards were strewn about the room, some travelling feet back from the mirror. Where her fist was now showed a profound crack in the wall. And yet, no glass had hurt Alice, and her fist which should have been as shattered at the mirror felt completely normal.

Oni whistled shrilly. “Impressive for your first try.”

Alice’s breathing was heavy and quick, and all she could get out with words was “W-w-what?”

“This is the Demon’s Fist, an ancient and powerful magic that alters the very being of the user, unlike traditional magic that allows the user to alter their surroundings. No idea why the hell it’s called that, but I do know that it is not lacking in potency, but that is already made obvious.”

Alice’s breathing returned to a more normal state as she inspected her pale hands. Nothing felt very different to her, but something in the back of her mind whispered otherwise. It was like an almost imperceptible pressure in the back of her skull, but Alice realized that they had more major concerns.

“Someone was on the other side of the wall,” Alice remarked almost casually. “They will have already called the guards to investigate us.”

“Well, perfect time to get acquainted with your new abilities then.”

“Are you saying you want me to kill them?”

“Well, Alice…” There was a banging at the door, with a gruff and guttural voice demanding to be allowed in. “…that would be a yes.”

“Open the door or we will break it down!” the guard shouted.

Alice pondered the thought of eliminating the opposition, weighing the pros and cons of such extreme measures. “We’ve already said they wouldn’t be accept me back like this.”

“Correct. They’ll kill you slowly if you don’t kill them quickly.”

Another banging at the door, as if they were punching it. “We’re breaking it down!”

“Best get psyched up quickly, Alice,” Oni smirked again. “It’s showtime.”

“You can’t just expect me to immediately become completely fine with killing people!”

“I can and I do because that door is coming down right now!”

Sure enough, the wooden door was broken from its hinges and fell to the ground. Two men in cloaks and three goblins, all wielding clubs, stood in the doorway. A bulky wall of meat that was obviously the leader stepped forward and inspected the scene. His face was fat and covered in warts, and he stank of beer and an outhouse. “What in the hells happened here?” He looked over the broken glass and cracked wall, and then to Alice and Oni. “Did you do this?” he pointed to the young man. “Did you attack our employee?”

“Not at all, sir. Your employee did this.”

The man looked to Alice, scrutinizing her new form. Alice was not conscious to it, but her facial expression had shifted to being almost perfectly neutral and uncaring. Almost, as there was still a glint of hostility in her amber eyes.

“You did this?” he asked her, scowling and gargling in his throat.

Time seemed to slow as Alice pondered his question. The answer was obviously yes, but what would happen after she admitted to it? Would they take her out back and lash her with a whip? If they did, maybe it would not even hurt, she thought. Punching a wall with all her might did not hurt in the slightest. If that were the case, what could they possibly do to her? 

Alice looked up to the man’s face, then to his companions, each twitching and shifting their weight impatiently. She then looked to Oni, who still wore his confident smirk proudly. She turned back to the man and simply said, “Yes.” Her tone was flat and cold, lacking in any inflection as if she was some puppet of a wizard. It was then that the guard got a better look at her eyes, gazing into the orange inferno that was her irises. 

“May I ask why?” he inquired, ignoring her eyes for the moment.

_Good question. How am I going to answer that? I got mad at a magical transformation and punched right through a mirror without injury? That would surely go over well._

“Well? Speak, Alice!”

“Yeah,” Oni added, “speak, Alice!”

“Shut it.” Alice looked right into the guard’s eyes and she detected a twinge of intimidation as she did so. His eye twitched ever so slightly, darting around for the briefest moment. _That’s new._ _Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all._ She considered her options one last time. _If you’re wrong about this, Oni, you did tonight as well._ “I am leaving,” Alice said resolutely. “Do not try to stop me.”

“You what?” the guard emphatically asked. “What the hell makes you think you can just walk out of here?”

“I said do not try to stop me.”

“I bloody well will try to stop you if you take one step away from the direction of your quarters.” He patted the club in his hand, and to her surprise, Alice felt no fear at all.

“You will let this man and I go. Now.”

“You don’t get to give me orders, slut! Maybe I should teach some manners, since obviously nobody else in this place is gonna do it!”

Oni chortled to himself. “Try it and you’ll wake up in the very hells you continuously mention, sir.”

“The fuck was that!?” He pointed his club at Oni. “Boys, take this idiot and give him a good beating before throwing him out with the rest of the garbage. I’ll take care of the girl.”

“With pleasure,” said one of the goblins.

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that, gentlemen,” Oni said with a smirk. “But I believe it’s already too late for you, so what good are my warnings?”

“Shut his trap and make sure he can’t use that snarky tongue again!”

“Don’t you dare touch him!” Alice blurted out. 

“Oh yeah? And what will you do about it when you’re knocked out and sprawled on the floor, just like you should’ve been this whole time!” He raised his club to strike her, but to Alice the movement seemed very slow. All became more quiet, and before she realized it, Alice was in a fighting stance, her fist outward to where the man’s face was, or had been. Slumped against the wall in front of her was the same wall of meat that had tried to attack her, but he was motionless, eyes opened and blood pouring from what seemed to be a broken nose. Everyone stopped moving as they watched the thick hot blood cascade like a waterfall onto the guard’s clothes. Alice looked at her hand in confusion.

“He’s dead!” cried one of the human lackies. “The boss is fucking dead!”

“What did she do to him?” said the shorter of the two goblins.

“Punched him in the nose very hard, I’d say,” Oni added nonchalantly. “Looks like she pushed the poor man’s bone right up into his skull. Very painful way to go, but at least it’s quick.”

“Will you keep your mouth shut for five seconds?!” one the other human guards shouted before swinging his arm wildly to strike Oni, who deftly maneuvered out of the way with inches to spare, though his face showed no concern whatsoever. “Stay still and let me kill you!”

“Why? I haven’t done anything. It’s the girl that killed your boss.”

“He’s right,” said the other man in a dull, dimwitted voice. “We oughta be killin’ her, shouldn’t we?”

“Probably,” Oni said. “I’m sure you’d be in good faith with Worthson if you avenge your boss.”

Alice turned from the corpse before her and looked back at Oni, shocked at his proposal. “What the hell, Oni!?”

“Yeah, what’s you on about?” another thug asked.

“I’m just stating the obvious since you’re obviously not capable of seeing it yourself.”

“Man,” said a goblin, “which one do we kill first?”

“The girl, obviously,” Oni said. “She did kill your boss, after all.”

“What are you doing?” Alice screamed at him.

Oni sighed and facepalmed himself. “For the gods’ sake, just kill them already, Alice!”

“Hey, what’s you doing?!” a thug shouted.

“Forget him,” shouted the older goblin, “get the girl!”

“Time to shine, Alice!”

A human thug lunged at her clumsily and Alice deftly moved out of the way while simultaneously punching in in the weakest part of the gut. He immediately vomited up bile and blood before falling to the ground in a heap. The other three thugs dashed toward her, flailing their clubs which Alice dodged gracefully without even having to think. _It’s like my body is moving on its own. Sure does come in handy._

“Gods, the girl’s fast!” said a goblin.

“And deadly,” Oni added, stroking his chin. “Show ‘em.”

“We’ll be the ones to show ya something!” said the taller human man as he charged at Alice with his club. He swung it downward to crush her head but his hand was stopped in place. Without any visible movement, Alice had caught the wooden club out of the air, and now stared the man in the eyes. His eyes widened in shock, but Alice’s expression was unaffected. 

The other man dropped his club to the ground in fear. “Your bones oughta be like sand right now!”

“I agree,” Alice deadpanned, “but it would seem otherwise.”

“Demon!” shouted a goblin. “Demon!”

“How’d she get like this?!” shouted the other goblin. “She was just another whore earlier today!”

“Not anymore, you overgrown toad!” Oni taunted exuberantly, as if a part of a stage show. “She is far from anything you have ever experienced! This girl is no longer just a whore, but one of the most dangerous-“

“I can speak for myself,” Alice glowered at him, stopping Oni mid sweeping of the arms.

“Whatever,” he waved his hand dismissively to play off the awkwardness. “Just kill them already.” 

Alice closed her hand around the wooden club, crushing it to splinters, though none were embedded in her hand. The man that had been holding it screamed and fell to the ground, his eyes wide and begging for mercy. Alice only raised an eyebrow before kicking him in the jaw, blood splattering from his mouth before he fell flat on his back spread-eagle.

“One hit,” said the smaller goblin. “All it took to do in both of ‘em was one hit!”

“Let’s get out of here!” cried the larger goblin, already breaking into as much of a run as his stubby legs would allow. He bolted for the door but stopped dead in his tracks, keeling over and screeching. He clutched his arm and flailed around, allowing Alice to see the rapidly spreading burns travelling up his arm, turning the brown, warty flesh white as the whole thing blistered. The goblin screamed curses and begged for whatever it was to stop, flinging himself against the furniture, then screeched even louder as his other arm flared up. Alice glanced behind her, certain it was Oni’s doing. She was correct. Oni held his arms out, eyes narrow in concentration as he focused on the suffering goblin.

“I’m afraid I cannot let you leave so easily,” Oni said resolutely, confidently. “We would prefer to have as few distractions as possible as we escape, and you will only bring more men to your aid.”

“Oni, stop this!” Alice interjected. “His screams will do the same anyway! Just end this!”

“You want to put him out of his misery? Do it! I won’t.”

The goblin continued to sob and beg for mercy, peering through mostly shut eyes at the woman. “END IT!” he cried.

Alice looked back to Oni, who seemingly did not notice his pleas at all. “You fucking animal,” she muttered before stepping to the goblin. In an instant, her fist was downward in the stature of a powerful punch; there was no more cries of pain, only a smoking goblin lying in a heap.

This left only one goblin remaining, standing between the two assailants as his feet shook in his boots, his stubby legs quivering. His large black eyes darted between the two, watching to see who would act next and take his life as well. He cursed under his breath as his pulse elevated, and Oni only laughed from behind him.

“At least you understand your situation,” he taunted. “Alice, that other goblin’s screeching would have attracted more attention. Finish this last one off and we can get moving.”

The goblin partially snapped out of his anxiety attack at Oni’s taunts. He whirled around to face him, putting on a more defiant expression than he actually felt. “Hey, you can’t just talk about me like some rabid dog to be put down! I’m a thinking, feeling being!”

“You see, here’s the problem with that, you damned toad,” Oni walked over to the goblin and knelt down so they were eye level, a sign of utmost disrespect to a species smaller than your own. The goblin could feel a strong heat emanating from Oni’s body, one the pyromancer did not seem to notice. “I don’t care about you as a thinking, feeling being,” he glanced to Alice, who was watching the whole display, “and neither does she.”

The goblin turned on his heel again, wiping the sweat off that poured onto his face from the heat and his anxiety. His head hung low and he dropped his club. “Just get it done with.”

Oni stood up and scratched his chin. “Well, Alice, you heard him. Get it over with and we can finally get out of here.”

“Why me? Why can’t you just do it? You’re more than powerful enough.”

“That’s true, but that would not benefit your training at all if I were to just do everything.”

“My training?”

“Kill the goblin and get us out of here and I’ll tell you.”

Said goblin now looked and spoke with more frustration than fear. “Will you two just end it already!? Is this some sick joke or torture!?”

“You would know,” Oni deadpanned. “Alice, do it.”

Her gaze bounced between her “savior” and victim for a moment. She lightly breathed out, not even audibly to the other two, and brought her fist down on the goblin’s head. His body went stiff and he fell to his knees, then forward. A small puddle of muted purple blood pooled under his face.

Oni stroked his chin again. “Not bad, Alice. Clean, quick, and likely mostly painless.” Alice opened her mouth to speak but Oni raised his hand and interrupted her. “Uh uh, not until we’re out of here. Then I’ll tell you everything. And before you ask why, it’s because I won’t have any time to explain before a bunch of vile miscreants charge through that doorway. Make your way back to your cell if there’s anything you need and we’ll be off.”

“And where will you be? Why am I going off on my own?”

“Because I have some quick business to take care of and you still need to get acclimated to your new self. Two birds, one stone, you know?”

“Do I not have a say in this?” Alice scowled, shaking some blood from her knuckles.

“No,” Oni said dismissively, walking to the door, “you do not.” He stopped in the doorway and looked up and down the hall. “They will be coming shortly. Prepare yourself. I will be off and meet up with you once my task is complete.”

“You still haven’t even told me how to use my powers!” Alice shouted in an uncharacteristically hostile and almost deeper voice, gritting her teeth as she did.

“I don’t need to,” Oni retorted. “They are in your very being now. Use your instincts. You already have killed four beastly goons in one blow each. I think you’ll be fine on your own for a little bit.” He smirked at her again, causing Alice’s blood to only boil more.

“Where are you even going?”

“To acquire information that does not currently concern you, now shut it with your questions and get moving!”

Oni stormed out down the hall in a huff. Alice stamped her foot indignantly and shouted “Gods, you’re such a jackass!” No response came, though she could hear the mysterious pyromancer’s footsteps fading into the distance. 

Alice breathed out sharply. She looked around, remembering that she was still standing amidst four corpses and that her hands were still caked in their blood. She closed her eyes and tried to focus her thoughts, but everything was jumbled and chaotic, as if her mind was the heart of some storm. There was nothing to focus on, just various shapes, colors and sounds. Alice felt extremely restless bordering on anxious. She tried to take deep breaths to calm herself down but he breathing still came out in sharp pulses as if she were hyperventilating, though she felt no lack of air in her system. Alice felt like her body’s fight or flight response was perpetually screaming at her, and nothing she tried could calm herself down.

Alice’s eyes then shot open. The hair on her right arm stood on end and there was a slight pressure in the right side of her head, just enough for her to notice. Something in both her head and gut told her it was time to move, and that something was coming from the right. Before she realized something had happened she was already running out of the bedroom and down the hall to her left. She was almost in a sprint, though her feet made no sound. Despite her limited feeling of lucidity, Alice noticed this and felt equal parts confusion and… was it pride? Pride that she was able to move so well and not make a noise? She barely even felt her feet touch the ground.

Alice darted around a corner, coming to the end of the hall before she was conscious to the sound of footsteps and talking. She hid with her back to the wall, barely breathing, listening intently under the light of a torch. Even without poking her head out to get in better earshot she was still able to hear with considerable clarity. She heard two sets of feet; one had a short span and was heavyset, obviously a goblin, and the other made considerably less noise and a wider gate, obviously a human.

A higher-pitched, gargling voice asked, “What could possibly have happened? It was some stupid rich brat and Angel. She could hardly break a toothpick.”

“Whatever happened,” responded a deeper voice with the slight incoherence that comes with alcohol, “will probably be easy to take care of, then we can get back to our meal. All we gotta do probably is just throw rich boy out into the garbage and call it a night.”

“Then where in the hell is Sammy and his gimps?” The voices were getting closer.

“Probably striking out with Ninza like usual.” Both voices snickered to themselves. Alice remained completely silent as the footsteps grew closer.

 _I could just bolt once they pass, but then they’d find the corpses and this whole place would be in lockdown. If I kill them, it could buy me at least a couple minutes. It would have to be quiet though… What am I thinking?! Haven’t I killed enough today?_ The two thugs were closing in on her position. Her choices were clear, now all that was left was to choose. _Killing them would be the most useful to me… Fuck it._ She felt a fiery determination well up inside her. _Fuck this and fuck them. Fuck all of them._

As Alice’s contemplations ended, she felt her eyes begin to burn as that sense of determination billowed within her. Judging by the sound of the goons’ footsteps and their speech they could not be more than a few yards from her. Alice then became conscious again of the torch illuminating her and peered up to it. She cocked her head to the right and reached out her hand quickly, taking hold of the burning flame. It was snuffed out immediately, and Alice did not feel a thing. The girl looked at her hand in surprise and smirked. The corner of the hall was now completely dark, save for the light of the other torches down the other way bleeding into the darkness.

“Hey, what happened to that light?” the goblin asked indignantly, the footsteps stopping place.

“Probably the wind, you idiot,” the human replied.

“From where? There’s no windows here, _idiot_.”

 _Shutting these two up is good enough cause to kill them, I think._ Alice smiled, showing her yellowed teeth, and whistled.

Both thugs whirled around in place. “The hell was that?” the human asked.

“A whistle,” replied the goblin.

“I know that, you moron! But who whistled is my point!” Alice whistled again, trying not to laugh. The two thugs took up their clubs. “It came from here, where the light went out.” 

“Probably some jackass pranking us. We’ll teach ‘em not to act so childish in an adult establishment!” The human narrowed his eyes at the goblin. “What?”

“Just come on.”

The two thugs walked lightly to the corner Alice hid behind. She held her breath and was completely silent. The moment was coming. Time once again seemed to slow as a human hand appeared on the wall, callous, dirty and reeking of beer. The girl grabbed it in a flash and a snapping of bones was heard. The human yelped and was pulled around the corner. Alice slammed his face into the stone wall, immediately breaking his skull and splattering blood on the masonry. The goblin shrieked girlishly and fell to the floor in shock. 

Remarkably, the human’s twitching and groans signaled that he was still alive. Alice quickly pulled his head back by the hair and slammed his face into the stone again. There was another smaller splatter of blood and a tiny yelp from the man before he went limp, his legs giving out underneath him. Alice picked up his club and dropped the body to the floor in a heap. She looked at the wooden club and then to the man; his face was thoroughly flattened, disfiguring and destroying most facial features as blood poured from what was left of his nose and mouth. _Easy,_ Alice thought. _Very easy._

In that moment the small goblin came around the corner, holding his club out in front of him. “Put your hands in the air, jackass! …Wha?” His huge dark eyes went even wider as he gazed at the sight before him: the Angel of the cabaret, standing above his best very, very dead friend with the blankest of stares. “Alice? How did… how?”

Alice’s eyes turned to him, and in the dim light of the hall he saw the normally sapphire blue irises were a piercing, devilish orange, and around her eyes was a foggy darkness on her skin. The goblin dropped his club and stepped back slowly, muttering to himself. _Very easy_ , Alice thought again. 

There was a scream, a bashing noise, another weaker scream, and a stronger bashing. Whimpering, begging, and two more harsh bashes. What followed was silence, eerie and painful. Shouts from hordes of other men came through the halls, and Alice stood to her feet, caked in red and black blood. She was a horrid image and as the guards began to pour through the halls, what should have been insurmountable odds were to her mind no more than a challenge at this point. Wherever Oni ran off to was not her concern. She felt truly alive for the first time since she arrived, and she knew in her broken heart that this was going to be the longest, hardest and most enjoyable night she could remember.

The crude cries of the guards howled through the torchlit halls, reverberating off the masonry. Their excited screams and taunts came from all directions, scaring off the working girls preparing themselves for the night. They ran in confused fear from the commotion as men and monsters, some big and some small, rushed through the halls searching for the little rebel who had aspirations at escaping, at least that is what they were told.

The reports from what few self-proclaimed witnesses came forth were uninformative at best, mostly describing sounds such as crashes and glass breaking and men’s screams. At least the location was consistent: the east wing, private room fourteen, Fairytale Suite. Not a common request among the more prevalent older demographic of the cabaret but was more consistently connected with the rare younger patron. A human male staff member had poured over the guest book and found one “Mr. Marquis” to have reserved it in the suspected timeslot. 

When Mr. Worthson was made aware of this, he sent all the guards and bouncers he could spare to investigate the suite and surrounding area. All they managed to find were corpses: four human men, three male goblins, all beaten and bludgeoned brutally. A couple of the clubs the guards had used were bloodied and dented, but who would have been able to take them from the guards themselves? What puzzled them more was that the other weapons were completely untouched and clean, indicating that whoever was responsible for this was the only one involved who had been able to attack. Some claimed it was a sorcerer or some other mage, for how in any plain of reality would Alice be able to pull off such a feat?

Even she found herself wondering at this as she hid in one of the private rooms. Taking a daring strategy to say the least, Alice had run down the end of the hall from whence she came, toward the guards that would be coming for her. She bolted down the hall and into a private room where she found a gangly, painfully thin girl attempting to do her makeup for the night. She tried to yelp before Alice covered her mouth with her hand. “Stay quiet,” she had said. “We’re going to be okay.”

Alice recognized this girl immediately. Her name was Dana, a new arrival and already subjected to horrible treatment both in and out of the bedroom. Tears lightly fell down her face, creating streaks of mascara under her wide eyes. Alice cocked her head to the side, listening intently for any approaching footsteps. They constantly came and went further down the hall, and a moment later she would hear them shout and argue about their grisly findings.

Alice looked down to Dana, who seemed to have become more stable. She slowly recoiled her hand, prepared to quiet Dana again if she was not as calm as she looked. Luckily, she remained still.

“Alice?” Dana whispered. “You’re the one they’re hunting?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“But how? And why? Why are they hunting you?”

“And how did this happen?” Alice asked with a gentle smirk. More footsteps sounded outside but she did not lose her grin, maintaining her confident appearance. She returned her gaze to Dana. “I’m leaving, Dana, and I’ll only come back to help you all escape too.”

“What? How did you get out? How did you… kill them?”

“That’s a long story I’m afraid I can’t tell you, for your own safety. If I do they’ll only interrogate you, and maybe worse.”

Dana began to cry again and tried to muffle herself, squinting her eyes and clasping her hands over her mouth. Sputtering, she asked, “You can’t take me with you?”

Alice’s eyes became more downcast. “I don’t even know if I will make it out of here, Dana. There are things happening and… I’m sorry, I just can’t. But I promise I will be back for you.”

“When?” Dana pleaded. “I don’t wanna go one more day with these heathens!”

“Hush, Dana!” The smaller girl clasped her hands over her mouth again in recognition of the position they were still in. 

“Sorry…” she mumbled through her fingers. 

Alice looked down at the girl, suddenly feeling a pang of sympathy for her. Dana was certainly a kindred spirit when it came to shared experiences and leaving her for the guards to find would be cruel to say the least. She was not property, but a thinking, feeling young woman in dire circumstances. _It’ll put me behind schedule, and potentially in more danger, but I can’t just leave her here._ Alice looked to the door once more, hearing no more footsteps in the halls. _Damn this whole place._ “Keep quiet and I can help you get somewhere safer.”

Dana beamed up to her, almost appearing in shock at the proposal. “You can?”

“Yes, but you need to be as silent as possible. Follow my lead step for step, and no matter what happens, don’t scream.”

The beaming in Dana’s eyes immediately rescinded. “What do you mean? What will you do?”

 _Damn these questions just as much._ Alice breathed quickly to calm herself. “Whatever is needed to keep us safe. I just need you to stay quiet while I lead us on.” She held out a hand to Dana and put forth her best comforting smile. “Come with me, Dana. It will be safer, I promise.”

Dana’s eyes darted between Alice’s face and hands, then she slowly raised her own hand and placed in the other girl’s palm. “Okay.”

“Alright,” Alice nodded and looked to the door. “Time to move, Dana. We have to be quick.”

Before Dana could question the stronger girl further, she was pulled to her feet and rushed out the door, surprised at Alice not even stopping to check if the coast was clear. The two girls sprinted down the hall, away from the confused arguing of the guards. Alice was running so fast that Dana nearly tripped every few steps, with her need to stay as quiet as possible only making the issue worse. Alice, however, led on with a deftness and confidence Dana would never have imagined. Every step was nimble and self-assured, yet her feet made no noise, almost gliding across the floor, and her gaze was steely and determined.

They rounded a corner and Alice finally stopped. Dana was trying to keep her gasps for breath as quiet as she could while Alice seemed strangely unphased, simply looking about with back straight and head held high. 

“H-how?” Dana panted, keeling over. “How can you move like that? And how are you not out of breath?”

Alice gazed down at her and Dana now got a good look at her new eyes. She gasped again as those burning, orange eyes glared at her, as if trying to sear her mind. “The same reason I got these,” Alice pointed to her eyes, “and the same reason that all those bastards will find are corpses.”

Dana was feeling more uncomfortable and frightened by her savior with every passing moment. Alice maintained a cold confidence as she led Dana on again, winding and weaving through the corridors of the cabaret’s back areas, avoiding guards, patrons and other girls as they did. Going by private rooms let Alice and Dana hear the terrified whispers of the other girls, mumbling amongst themselves of a killer on the loose. Some claimed that it was a drugged-up madman, others claimed it had been a brutal monster that was loosed upon the cabaret, perhaps from the sewers below. _A monster isn’t too far from the truth,_ Alice thought. _What the hell am I saying? I sound absolutely ridiculous!_ _Like a petulant child! I’ve only even been like this for, what? A half hour maybe?_

“Alice?” Dana asked, snapping her back to reality. “Are you alright?”

Alice’s eyes went wide as she once again became aware of her situation. “Yes,” she replied plainly. “Why do you ask?”

“You sort of zoned out for a moment.”

“I, uh, suppose I did,” said Alice, slightly embarrassed. “There’s just a lot on my mind right now, as you can probably believe.”

“Shouldn’t we get going though?” Dana asked in an uncharacteristically pushy tone. “They could find us any second.”

“Yes, you’re right, Dana.” _She’s just as eager to get out of this sespit as I am._ Alice motioned with her hand. Commandingly, she said, “Let’s move.”

“But to where exactly?”

Alice paused in the middle of her first step and her brow furrowed. Where exactly were they going anyway? She straightened her back and looked to Dana confidently. “Wherever is needed to escape this place, Dana. And don’t worry, none of these jackasses will lay a finger on you, I promise.”

Dana stood up herself. “You sound very brave, Alice. Hopefully whatever has happened to you has done enough to warrant it. You still haven’t told me about whatever this is though,” she pointed to Alice’s eyes.

“A good question for when we are free, Dana. Now don’t chastise me for wasting time when you just stand here and ask questions. Let’s go.” Alice took Dana’s had once again. “We’ll make our way to one of the employee exits and attempt to escape through there.”

“Are you sure you can take the guards if we find any?”

“I won’t be in any danger. It’s you I’m concerned about. Come on, or do you really want to wind up right back where you were?”

“No,” Dana said meekly, “not at all. I don’t.”

“Then it’s time to get going already!”

Sprinting down the hall led them to the kitchen, where surprisingly all was quiet, tough Alice could still hear the guards and thugs throughout the wing of the cabaret if she focused her senses. _This truly is going to be useful. Maybe I should thank Oni later._ The men searching for her let out mixtures of anger at her lack of a trail to follow and boastings that “I, of course, am the only one able to find her, and when I do…” and other such things. As Alice opened the door to the kitchen, she could not help but snicker, thinking pridefully of the futility of their boasting.

“We’ll sneak through here,” she whispered to Dana, “and stay quiet.”

Dana nodded nervously and they sneaked through the kitchen, weaving around the counters and food supplies. As they were half way through their path, they heard a door fling open and slam against the wall across the room. Amid the sound of heavy, uneven footsteps the girls heard a man say, “Fuggin hell, I shouldn’t ‘ave taken that whoreson’s shooka.” Alice and Dana leaned up against a wall, barely breathing to stay hidden. The voice laughed. “Shooka is right, I’ma be shakin’ soon enough, eh… The fuck is this doing on da floor?” A pause, and then another chuckle. “Oh, right, I dropped it. Right…”

Alice peered around the corner and saw the source of the voice: a lanky, disheveled man with stringy hair and tattered clothing was trying to pick up broken pieces of a mug but could barely coordinate his hands enough to touch them. She turned to Dana. “Wait for him to pass,” she whispered, “then we’ll sneak by.” Dana nodded.

The man crashed to the floor, tripping over his own shoes. He swore, then laughed at himself as he rose back to his feet. “Gods, I’m gonna be so bloody hungover tomorrow,” he remarked to no one. The man finally trudged by and Alice and Dana immediately made their move towards the door. _Finally_ , Alice thought.

The taller girl stopped in front of the door and put her ear to the wood, listening intently, just in case. “Nothing,” she said to Dana. “Time to move. Ready?”

“I am.”

Alice glared with determination and slowly pushed the door open to the outside world, but she was caught off guard when it suddenly lurched forward out of her grasp, almost pulling he arm off with it. The shockingly strong figure on the other side of the door was the tall, thin and macabre shape of the caretaker, Dusev. Alice and Dana instinctively began to back away slowly and Dusev strutted forward, perfectly at pace with them. A crooked and otherworldly grin crept across his face as he peered down at them, his shadow covering most of their bodies. “I knew it was only a matter of time, Alice,” Dusev uttered with a crackle in his voice. “You were gonna run someday, oh yes. And when I heard about all the commotion coming from the private wing, I knew it had to be you, I just knew it, you brat!”

Dana grabbed Alice’s hand tightly; her legs quivered as she peered up to the man. Alice attempted to keep her expression as defiant as she could, but small pangs of fear like tiny needles within her gut kept her from remaining resolute in her gaze.

“Out of our way,” Alice commanded, “or die like the other pigs in this damned place.”

Dusev chortled to himself, which sounded more like gravel rolling down a hill than a man’s laughter. “Alice, I am disappointed in you. I knew you would try to flee this place, but you just had to go and get sweet little Dana involved as well? I thought you had more respect and care for the girls than that.”

“We are both leaving!” Alice shouted. “Now get the fuck out of our way or I’ll rip you to pieces where you stand!”

Dusev chortled again, then he laughed, then he guffawed with glee, holding his face in his hands as bent over in revelry. “Some angel you are, Alice! I’m honestly so glad you got this chance to flee, ‘cause now I finally get to stop treating you so damn nicely.”

Alice pulled her had from Dana’s and altered her stance to that of a fighter, glowering at her “caretaker”. “You’ll get nothing from me, Dusev, but one more warning: leave or die.”

Dusev’s smile grew wider as he cracked his knuckles. “That’s the spirit, Alice. Now come here.” He got into a similar stance but was obviously mocking her determination rather than actually facing her down. “I’ve got a whole year of steam to blow off!”

Dana gasped and ran behind a table as Alice lunged at Dusev, firing a strong punch right to the man’s thin and protruding jaw, but he dodged the blow seemingly as easily as breathing. Alice saw that he had barely even moved before something collided with her gut, making her eyes bulge out and her arms lock up. While the wind was still rushing from her lungs, another punch made contact with her cheek and the next thing she knew, her head had already hit the floor.

Dusev straightened his back and chuckled again. “How the hell did my boys get killed by you? You’re already sprawled on the floor, just like you should be. You always were all bark, no bite, Alice. You could curse and rebel for hours but would immediately shut up once anyone got in your face. Ha! And to think Mr. Worthson was worried about the damage you could cause. Pathetic is all you are!”

Alice cried out again and tried to sweep Dusev’s leg with her arm but he once again seemed to dodge the attack without hardly moving. She tried to get to her feet but was rewarded for her efforts with a swift kick to the forehead that sent her back down to the floor. 

Dusev cracked his neck. “Just as I said: pathetic.” Whimpering cries came form behind one of the tables, and Dusev took notice. He looked to Alice, her form struggling to regain the strength to stand while being completely dazed, then back to the whimpering table. “And even more so for dragging an innocent girl into this nasty business.” His plodding footsteps made their way to the source of the crying, and Alice then heard Dana scream in fear and her struggling in Dusev’s grasp. “Gods, you are a frail one,” he remarked. “I can pick you up with one hand!” Dana screamed again as she was hoisted into the air by the collar of her shirt. “Writhing like a fish,” Dusev said with a grin. “At least you’re not completely cowardly.”

“Let her go, you shitsain!” Alice cried, finally getting to her feet as her vision came back into focus.

“That’s it, c’mon, Alice!” he made a beckoning motion to her. “Come over here and take your friend back! Show me your strength so I have more reason to claim I killed you in self-defense!”

Alice lowered her gaze as her thoughts seemed to clear. The world once again seemed to slow down as she focused on the man in front of her. The world darkened around him and Dana until they were all standing in a void; no sound, no light, only the three of them. _Kill the man, save the girl._ “You’ll be sent back to your boss in bloody pieces!”

Alice charged without making a sound, her arm back behind her winding up a punch. To her, it seemed that Dusev and Dana had completely frozen in place, but to them there was only a blur for the slightest moment where Alice had stood, then the sound of crunching bones as a powerful, crushing punch connected with Dusev’s nose. He dropped Dana to the floor and was sent flying six feet backward, landing on his back. Alice was hunched over, arm extended from the follow through of the punch and gasping for air as if she were exhausted. Dana slowly sat upright and saw her savior, but she was different now.

Alice’s face was paler and the dark fogginess around her eyes was darker and more pronounced. Her orange eyes were brighter, almost glowing, and the fist that had punched Dusev was now completely black, appearing almost to be covered in ink or some tar-like substance. The girl’s expression was that of an animal cornering its prey, though that was not the case in reality as Dusev quickly stood to his feet, though hobbling and bleeding profusely from the nose and mouth.

Dusev smiled at Alice, lips parted and mouth open to reveal the shattered, bleeding teeth underneath. He chortled in his throat, though it sounded more like gargling, which was further supported by rivulets of blood pouring from his battered mouth as he chuckled. “That was a good hit, Alice,” he sneered. “What? Is your head made of stone or something?” Dusev threw his head back and guffawed manically, spewing more blood and bile from his mouth and nose until his whole face was covered in the grisly fluids that then ran down his chest, staining his black as soot shirt.

Alice stood to her feet shakily, her arms going limp at her sides. With gritted teeth, she growled out, “I put every bit of strength I had in my body into that punch. So,” her eyes widened and her back straightened, “why the hell are you still alive!?”

Dusev spat out blood at Alice’s feet then gave her another broken smile. “Magic, of course,” said Dusev low in his throat. “Something I can tell you’ve become acquainted with. You’ve been making very dangerous friends, Alice. I wonder, who was it that gave you these powers? What did they have to do to make you like this?”

“You won’t live long enough to find out!” She darted forward again but was knocked back by to the floor, feeling like she had just run into a wall. Alice looked up and saw a field of swirling black and red energy in front of Dusev’s outstretched hand. He looked down on her, though his smile and disappeared and was replaced by a scowl. 

“I don’t remember you being so aggressive, Alice.” Dusev coughed up more blood and the magic barrier shifted as it did, like a pebble thrown into water. “But don’t try and be all mightier than thou if you don’t have the strength to back it up!” Dusev thrusted his palm out further and the field rocketed forward, hitting Alice and flipping her over. She now lay on her face with the wind knocked out of her, gasping for breath as she clutched her sides. “I didn’t think I would need to use my spells, so I must commend you for that. But even with that magic you’re still pathetic. Too weak to fight even a frail old man like me!” Dusev looked over his shoulder and saw Dana cowering in the corner, crying with a shocked expression on her face. He looked back to Alice, still laying on the ground trying to recover her breath, and his cracked grin returned. “And too weak to save your little companion,” he snarled.

Dana screeched in fear and tried to run away but Dusev used the same magic ability to knock her to ground, though this one was more forceful. The power of the strike sent her flying backward into the wall, causing all sorts of cooking utensils, pots and pans to come crashing down around and on top of her. Dana screamed again, feeling that her arm had been broken. 

Dusev trudged over to Dana and picked her up from under the pile of kitchen supplies. She cried and whimpered as she was once again manhandled by the imposing figure. Dana shut her eyes as tight as she could. “And here we are again,” Dusev uttered just loud enough for Alice to hear, “but this time we will not be interrupted.” Dana’s whimpering became louder and more desperate in his clutches. “Do not worry, Dana. It will be quick, I promise.”

“Get…” Alice gasped, “THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER!”

“Alice, please, it’s so unladylike to speak that way. And do not worry, I promised it will be quick, and I will abide by my word.” Dana screamed the loudest she ever had as Dusev swiftly brought a hand to her face and covered her eyes. He applied pressure with his fingers to her head as she screeched, and then all was silent. Dana went limp and Dusev dropped her to the floor.

Alice’s orange eyes widened in shock as she watched Dana’s body fall in a heap. Her mind was blank, and she had no words to express herself. 

“Pity,” Dusev said expressionless. “She was such a nice girl, far nicer than you. But you know how it is, Alice. No witnesses.”

“It meant nothing to you?” was all Alice could think to say.

“No,” he turned to her. “No it did not.”

Alice felt tears stream from her eyes, blurring her vision. Her emotions were shocked and her body felt like it was made of lead. “You monster,” she said without looking at him. “You fucking animal…”

“Oh, Alice,” Dusev said calmly before coughing again, “you know nothing of monsters.” Alice heard his footsteps coming her way again. “I see your hand, and if it’s what I think it is, then you have no room to call me or anyone else a _monster_. You don’t know what you have, do you? I’ll bet you were told it was the power to free yourself, that it was what you had always desired. Well, Angel,” Dusev stooped over her and lifted her chin with his finger, scrutinizing her tearstained, pale face, “I’m afraid you were deceived. But such is what you get for trusting strange men.” The orange in Alice’s eyes intensified again, and Dusev only smiled. “You’re angry, I know. But this is your fault, you see. All you had to do was not listen to him and you’d be back in bed and Dana would still be alive. Her blood is on your—”

Before he could react, Alice grabbed his hand from under her chin and, with all her might, pulled. There was a ripping noise, then a splash of blood across her face and the floor. Dusev recoiled back and screamed, clutching the flood of blood pouring from the stump where his arm used to be; Alice was now holding it.

She rose to her feet and stood tall and straight, now looming over her tormentor with a glower that would make a goblin flee in terror. Dusev looked up to her, seeing the visage of an entirely different beast to the one he had been supervising all these months. Her skin was a foggy grey except for the areas around her eyes which were almost black, her irises glowed like torches, and her arms were as black ink until tapering off in rivers past her elbow. Her right hand was splattered in blood from the arm she was holding, mixing like a macabre painting with the ink-like color of her skin.

Dusev slowly began to scoot away from her but Alice stopped him by stomping on his foot. Her legs were extremely thin and petite, which made it a sickening surprise to Dusev when the bones in his foot immediately shattered, causing him to howl in pain. He sputtered and moaned in anguish. 

“You will pay,” Alice growled in a low tone that neither she or anyone else had ever heard from her before. Her grip on the man’s arm grew tighter and a cracking like that of his leg sounded from it. “You all will pay.”

Dusev coughed up more blood and phlegm, his large eyes widening further. “Alice…?” 

The girl’s eyes shot wide open and her nostrils flared. Was that fear in his voice just then? Or perhaps some sort of surprise at her actions. Whatever it was mattered less to her than anything in the world at that moment. Alice sneered and growled in her throat as she rose the arm over her head. There was one more expression of shock and fear from Dusev before his arm made contact with his face, and he cried out in pain again. Every time with an increasingly animalistic grunt, Alice brought the arm over her head and back down onto Dusev’s. Bones in both the arm in his face broke as they were smashed together with shocking strength, blood splattered across the floor from the arm and Dusev, whose pained shouts quickly grew quieter until there was nothing left but the sound of bone against bone. 

It took Alice three more swings to notice the sudden silence from her victim. Breathing laboriously, she looked down at Dusev while her arm fell to her side, dropping his to the floor with a thud. The man’s face, or what was left of it rather, was mangled, bloody and all different shades of red and purple. Both his eyes were bleeding, his teeth were reduced to jagged pieces crumbling out of his open mouth, and his jaw was severely out of alignment, falling slack away from his face. The sight should have made Alice retch, but it did not. She simply stared at it for a long moment, her shoulders rising and falling with her heavy breathing. Dusev’s brutalized features did not bring her any sort of discomfort. In fact, her mind was an almost completely blank haze.

She was aware of herself, her surroundings, and what she had done, but Alice was still in the process of absorbing the events of the last few minutes. She stepped away from the corpse; her stance was shaky as if her own weight was proving too much for her. She leaned against a wall post, her arms still blackened and limp, and tried to make something of the blur that was her mind. 

However, the moment she attempted this, Alice was met with a cascading storm of images, sounds, and feelings as if the last few hours of her life were all being replayed before her at once on loop and at mind numbing speed. She Dusev looming over as he woke her up earlier, then being forced into makeup with the process feeling more like she was being prepared to be walked to the hangman’s platform. The scene changed to the goblins tying her up to the harness and pushing her out into the scaffolding over the stage, hanging from the ceiling like bait for fish, not even able to speak, reduced to nothing more than a _thing_ to be gawked at.

Then came her encounter with Oni. She saw him conjuring flames in the air and making them dance and swirl into all sorts of shapes; the flames represented an oil painting more than an inferno. Alice saw his cocky gin before it shifted in the blink of an eye to the corpses of her first assailants, then the running through the halls, then Dana’s terrified tears, then back to reality. Suddenly all was still and her surroundings came into focus again, including the remains of Dusev which Alice had almost forgotten about.

The girl finally pulled herself free of her thoughts and looked around the room, spying the motionless heap that had been Dana. Alice walked over to her slowly, still feeling dazed. Dana was lying face down on the floor and Alice shakily reached out her dark hand and rolled her over. Alice did not gasp or cry, but her hands did become still when she saw Dana’s face.

It was a pale gray, more like stone than skin, except for a gray mark on her forehead that resembled a faded bruise. Her eyes were blank sphered of white, the pupils having completely disappeared. Dana more resembled a doll than a person now, still and lifeless but to such a degree that one would think there had never been any life in her fragile, tiny body to begin with. Alice did not know her well, but every time she saw Dana the only expression she showed was constant fear. Understandable, yes, but even more so than the other girls. In her returning lucidity, Alice felt genuine pity for Dana and regret over her inability to save her.

Alice pounded her fists into the floor with all her might though she was not hurt at all. She looked to Dana then to Dusev’s destroyed face and scowled with all the animosity she could muster. Then looking back at the lifeless doll of a girl she finally felt everything come into focus, and then there was some sort of ringing in her ear. It started almost imperceptibly quiet but grew quickly as she gazed at Dana’s face. Alice’s eyes closed as the ringing became uncomfortable, then painful. There was also a knot in her stomach as the image of Dana’s death replayed in her head; her screams, her struggling, then her silence. It was vivid and painful like someone was forcing a burning pike into her ear. _Dusev has already paid for what he’s done, but what about the other girls? What will happen to them when the “Angel” is gone? The newer and less popular girls might be treated just like Dana…_

That thought broke through the endless ringing and stuck with her like a thorn. Despite the pain she was feeling, Alice stood to her feet gracelessly, swaying and fumbling over her own stance. _I can save them,_ she thought. _If I could take down Dusev, I can kill everyone in this hellhole, even Worthson and his other thugs. I can, I have the power._

Alice suddenly felt a spasm in her hands that ran up to her fingers. She held them up to her face, gritting he teeth in pain; it felt like her very bones were lashing out against her. Her fingers made popping sounds like she was cracking her knuckles, but they were louder than that and each pop hurt like her fingers were braking over and over again. Alice keeled over and screamed, holding her hands out from her body. “What’s happening to me!?”

“Eh, the fuck ish goin’ on here?” said a sloshed man’s voice. Through eyes slanted in pain Alice saw the same scrappy young man Dana and her had eluded earlier, holding a bottle of mead and barely standing upright. “You alright, mish?” he slurred. “Gods, you givin’ birth er somethin’?”

Alice managed to raise an eyebrow in confusion before her hands both at once spasmed with such force she cried out again and fell to the floor. She reflexively tried to grab her hands but that only intensified the pain.

“Ah, wait… you’re Alice!” said the man. “Angel Alice… you’re the one they was looking for.”

_Shit, he knows I’m wanted._

“Well,” the man tried to put his bottle of mead on the counter but dropped it to the floor, spilling the contents all over his shoes, “ah shit,” he remarked. “Whateva, I’ll be I could pay for loadsh more if I brought the Angel in for… eh, whatever it ish they wanna do with you after everything you’ve done.” He stumbled over to her quivering form with a self-satisfied grin but stopped when he was able to peel over the table that had been obscuring his view of Dusev and Dana’s bodies. “The hell!? How the fuck did you do that?!” he shouted at Alice, now in the fetal position and whimpering to herself. “How did you--!” he was interrupted mid-sentence when he got a good look at Dusev’s face and immediately heaved and covered his mouth. After a moment he stood back up straight and pounded his chest. “Gods, that’s disgushting. I’ll tell ‘em about this when I take you in, Angel, and then I’m sure they’ll just wanna kill a damned monshter like you.”

_Monster?_

“They oughta just put a sword through your skull and dump you in the trash, I say.”

_Trash?_

The drunkard turned to Alice and chortled to himself. “Whatever it ish that’s ailing you, I’ll bet it’s a bed of roses compared to what Worthson will have for you.”

_Worthson…_ The pain began to subside and she could hear his first footstep coming toward her. _…will have nothing._

“Now, you’re gonna come with me, we’ll take a nice walk down to the officesh and—” Alice suddenly wheeled her body around in place and reached out to the man, eyes wide like an animal. Not giving the man nearly enough time to react, Alice’s blackened fingers extended at blinding speed, slicing through the air and puncturing the man’s chest and gut in five different places. “GULLAGH!” was the only response he could muster as blood spewed out of his mouth. 

He slowly tilted his head down to look at his body. Alice’s fingers had stretched ten feet to pierce him and he felt they had run him all the way through, poking out of his back with blood dripping off the tips. The man made another gurgling noise deep in his throat when Alice pulled her fingers back, dislodging them from his body. The man immediately fell to the ground in a pool of his blood and went motionless.

Alice still knelt on the ground in shock at what had happened the past few moments. She slowly lowered her mutated hand to the ground, the fingers shooting away from her embiggened hand like obsidian spikes. Her hand was noticeably heavier than normal but she now felt no pain in it; it felt completely natural to her body. Alice gritted her teeth as tears began to fall down her pale face. _I’m a monster_ , she thought. _That bastard made me a monster. How can I do anything like this?_ She stared down at her monstrous hand and cursed it in her mind. _Just go back to normal!_

Immediately Alice’s hand spasmed again and within only a couple seconds shrunk back to its normal size, frightening Alice more than anything else. She recoiled back to a sitting position and yelped at her transformation, gawking at her now normal sized but still inky hand. _It…obeys me?_

Snapping out of her thoughts, Alice became acutely aware of the scene she had created. The bloodied and brutalized bodies of two people were strewn about in front of her along with the still and pale body of a young girl. Truly it was that of a massacre, and she was responsible. Alice felt a retch fly up to her throat but managed to suppress it, but just barely. The vile taste filled her mouth, only adding to her feelings of base depravity.

“A monster,” she whispered to the still air, reeking of blood and bile, “I’m a fucking monster.” Alice rubbed her hands together, feeling the slick dampness on her… skin? Could it even be considered skin anymore? That was a question she never thought she would have to ask. Whatever it was slick and smooth, like she had dipped her hands in cooking oil. 

Shakily, Alice stood to her feet and took one last look at the product of her works: one bloody corpse and one truly beaten and brutalized corpse. _Not at all how I thought this day would go._ She took a step forward but stumbled, barely maintaining her balance. Alice’s breathing was light and fast, she thought she could feel her heartbeat in her head, pulsing and thumping behind her ears. _I guess I’m in shock,_ she thought. _Not exactly surprising._ Her fingers twitched incessantly and her eyes were wide; everything was blurry and distorted but she could make out the door on the opposite side of the room, a black void beyond it. 

Alice took a tentative step forward, remaining more balanced this time as she focused more on her footing than anything. Her arms limp at her side, she trudged forward more, slowly walking around the mangled corpse of Dusev. Alice’s mind was all but blank except for her intense focus on her steps. _Keep your foot flat, land on your heel, and lift up the other on the ball of the foot. Repeat._

Alice stopped one more time and looked at Dana, the guilt welling up inside her in spite of her outward dull expression. “I’m sorry,” she managed to croak out. “I am sorry, Dana. You deserved so much better than this.” A pale tear fell down from her orange eye as she remembered the frantic cries of fear, and then silence. “But don’t worry, I promise I’ll make it better for us.” She turned to look to the door again, her eyebrows furrowing slightly as the shock began to wane. “There will not be a soul in this hell left alive when I’m done. For you, for me, and all the other girls.” 

Alice clenched her black fist and took a much more confident step forward. The strength was returning to her petite body and her awareness was renewed. New sounds poured in from the open doorway, pelting her ears with shouts of crass joy and guffaws of laughter. “Apparently Worthson didn’t want to let my incident get in the way of some party,” Alice concluded aloud. “Even when multiple men of his have been murdered he still will try to keep his profits up like nothing happened. Can’t say I’m surprised.” Alice, for the first time in what felt like so, so long, chuckled. It was a strange sound to her, deep and throaty, her vocal chords vibrating strongly. 

Her ears began to ring, and the pumping of her blood became louder in her head, but neither phased the girl. She was acutely aware of herself, her surroundings and the situation she was in. The smallest grin found its way to her face as the laughter of men and monsters cut through the ringing sound. “At least they’re all in one place,” she muttered. “This might just end up being easy.”

Alice lurched upright, a surge of strength shooting through her body like lightning. It was that power again, that strange power that had been at the back of her mind ever since Oni’s little light show and her grisly vision. She felt more than just invigorated, she felt something almost entirely different. It was like her instincts were screaming at her in her mind but it caused no bother to her. The sinews of her muscles burned in her arms but it could not have phased her less. She felt strong, determined, and for the first time she could remember, in control.

 _Was this what that vision was?_ she thought. _Was it showing me that I’m actually about to do… all of that? Can I even do that?_ The sounds of scathing cheering interrupted her, rambunctious and coarse shouts enveloped her hearing. _They’re bringing out another girl, just like me. Well,_ her smirk grew wider and she looked up to the ceiling, _this is the last time they’ll get to enjoy the pleasure of a captured woman!_ Her grin widened to devilish smile and her orange eyes glowed in the darkness. _Gods, my whole body is on fire! And it feels… it feels…_ There were footsteps coming from down the hall, sprinting exactly in Alice’s direction. Without her smile waning, she lowered her head and gazed right into the doorway. She opened her hands, extending her fingers like the claws they resembled and lowered her stance, like a fighter, or predator.

_It feels fucking great!_

Rather than the cocky mockery of the earlier guards she had killed, Alice heard these thugs arguing heatedly amongst themselves about how to go about eliminating “the monster”, and there was no small amount of apprehension, or even fear, in their voices. A man she could tell just from the voice was a complete dullard made the comment that he had come close to pissing his trousers moments earlier, and to her surprise, instead of crass mocking of him, Alice heard a much smaller voice agree with him. There was something about this whole situation that gave the girl an almost burning sense of pride in herself.

Alice considered ducking behind a wall to hide from the hunting party, but something within her willed against it. The very thought of cowering from the thugs caused a pang of discomfort in her muscles, as if her own body objected to such an act of fear. Even so, Alice considered the course of action once again, only to be rewarded with a twitching in her right hand. She shook her hand free of the spasm and clenched her fist as the footsteps drew closer. _They’ll be on top of me in a moment. Maybe this will be a good chance to try out this power in a real fight._ No discomfort came from that thought, but there was an excited fluttering in her core that brought a smirk to her face. This face made her slightly concerned, but not enough to overpower her perception of the current situation. Guards were approaching and she would have to fight her way out.

Alice stepped confidently into the middle of the room, her eyes never leaving the doorway. She was now directly in front of it as the group of five guards came upon the kitchen, rounding the corner and seeing a pale, gangly girl in tattered rags standing perfectly still in their path. She glared at them silently, causing the burly men and goblins to stop in their tracks out of confusion. Normally a girl in her position would be screaming and cowering behind a piece of furniture, but Alice only stood there with a glower on her face and a slight haunch in her back.

For a long moment, no one said a word. Alice waited for the thugs to make a move and the thugs just took in the strange sight until one of the men, a smaller human with a shaggy brown beard, noticed Alice’s arms in the torchlight.

“Hey,” he pointed at her hands, “what’s up with her? She’s got mud all up her arms.”

“That ain’t mud you git,” said a goblin. “It’s black like tar!”

“Then what do you bloody think it is?”

“I, um,” the goblin stammered.

 _Idiots_ , Alice thought.

A taller, fatter man in the back finally spoke up. “Will you damn morons get your heads on straight and nab the girl already!?” 

With embarrassed grunts, the five guards sprang into action, bounding toward Alice. The world seemed to slow ever so slightly around her once again, giving Alice enough time to sidestep a younger human man charging into her. With her sidestep she punched him in the back, sending him flying backward into a table that broke in two when he crashed into it. 

What followed was a flurry of blows and screams even Alice found difficult to keep track of. The world swayed and slowed and sped up around her like music, her body acting like the conductor of a great orchestra, directing every movement of the piece with a speed and deftness that only comes from muscle memory, despite her first fight being less than an hour earlier. Bones crunched and shattered when she struck them, and blood sprayed and splattered on her pale face. The world seemed to move and flow around her like she was a stone in a creek, completely unaffected by the forces trying to whisk her away. 

One ogre of a man came at Alice with club held high, charging over the unconscious or dead bodies of his cohorts and time slowed again, letting her take in the sight before her. His nose was bleeding profusely and his face was bruised, letting her conclude that she had already attacked him. The man was nearly on top of Alice, his downswing already in motion toward her head. The girl focused on the muscles in her arm and let the tense sensation flow into her fingers. She jumped back out of the way of the club and reached out, her right hand’s fingers pointing to the man’s left leg and just as Alice had intended her fingers extended and shot forward like bolts from a crossbow. They ran right through his flesh and pinned him in place as the club came down right where Alice had just been.

The brutish man howled in pain and dropped his club to the floor but came to his senses an instant later. He growled at the protrusions sticking through his legs and lifted his hands in the air to break them off like sticks. 

Just as naturally as if she were moving her arms, Alice’s fingers rescinded backward into her hand, narrowly escaping the blow and with a cry. _My hands are strong but I don’t wanna find out if they’re_ that _strong_. She leapt forward and drew her arm all the way back and rocketed it forward into the brute’s temple. His eyes went white before he was thrown backward so hard his head crashed into the floor and cracked the bricking. 

Alice landed in a squat, breathing heavily over the large man, the punch having taken a massive amount of energy out of her. Blood began to trickle from the back of his head and onto the floor; his eyes were completely blank and stared sightlessly into the ceiling. The girl stood to her feet and quickly took in the sight of the bodies she had added to the three that had already been there. Men and goblins with all sorts of injuries, most focused on their heads and torsos, were strewn about the kitchen, some on the floor and some in bloody heaps amidst broken tables and utensils. 

“No time to dwell,” Alice said aloud. “I gotta get the hell out of –” She once more spied the body of Dana, as still as doll just as she had been. No tears came to her eyes this time, not even a lump in her throat. Alice took one last look at her and simply sighed. “I am sorry,” she whispered. “And always will be.”

The party was in full swing, she could hear, despite everything that had transpired. Even the muffled cries of a young woman being moved to a customer’s chambers did not escape her ears; a sound she was all too familiar with personally. _I won’t just escape, I have to stand my ground for them._ Alice’s fists clenched along with her teeth, thinking about what was about to happen, what she was about to do. _Even if they fear me for it._

With steady, long strides Alice traipsed across the bed of bodies and to the door. Her heartbeat rang in her ears but it did not bother her in the slightest, acting to her more like a rhythmic wardrum heralding her arrival on the field of battle, though that was not the word she would use to describe it. _If this is to work,_ she thought as she exited the doorway, _then I have to eliminate as many of them as possible. I don’t know what the outside world is like, but I can’t take any chances on one of them telling the authorities what happened. I’d start out my new life hunted like an animal._ In a sort of daze, Alice trudged heavily down the dark hall, the lights of the torches seeming to fade around her despite the flames not going out. _I will not be hunted. I won’t be pursued like a beast. That’s not freedom._

Out from a corner in front of Alice came a man, obviously drunk though not to the extent of the man she had killed minutes before. The only thing that surprised her was the animal mask he wore: a pale, crude recreation of a wolf’s face with fabric and fittings falling off almost every inch. To her annoyance, he was able to recognize her immediately and was about to call for the guards when Alice grabbed him by the back of his shirt and in one fluid motion, picked him up and threw him across the hall. His cup of wine went flying before he crashed head first into the stone wall with a crack that could very well have been the brick, though Alice had other ideas, and hopes. Whatever the case, the man lay in a heap unmoving with his mask crushed underneath him.

 _I should make sure he’s dead, just to be safe._ Alice pointed a black finger at the right of the man’s chest and her finger shot forward, piercing right through the heart. The man flinched when it entered and again when she retracted the finger, and then lay still. Alice looked down at her handiwork and this caused her to cringe for a moment. _Did I really just kill him so callously? Yes, he wanted to subdue me but still… What am I becoming that I could do such a thing?_ She heard the cries of another girl, now closer to her location. Alice turned around; there was a door only a few feet from her. _I’m near the stage,_ she thought. _That’s the theater exit for the men who bought a girl for the night_. _Which means…_

Alice quickly rushed off further down the hall, still taking notice of her almost silent footsteps even when at a full run. Doors and the walls passed her in a blur; she was running extremely fast though nothing felt different or more exertive than any other time in her past. In seconds, Alice had run the length of the large hall and came upon a wooden door with far more expensive adornments then the basic rented rooms she had passed. Alice was back at makeup.

Not only would this be the most advantageous route to the stage, but Alice had a desire to check on the well being of Nusa and Layle. They had always been kind to her, for whatever reason, and Alice could at least make sure they were alright before she escaped. She reached out to the doorknob and tried to twist it though it did not budge. _Locked it to keep themselves safe. If even they were in danger, I can’t imagine what it must be like for the other girls._ Alice looked at the doorknob pensively, then shrugged. _Here goes nothing. Sorry, ladies, but there’s no time for negotiations._

Alice quickly grabbed the doorknob with all her might and put that same amount of strength into twisting it. The metal screeched and bent and the knob snapped off from the door, which flew open toward the girl, almost hitting her. Alice’s fierce entrance was greeted by two understandably frightened screams of fear. _Okay, maybe that was a bit much._

The small girl dropped the doorknob and peered into the makeup suite. Before her, Layle and Nusa cowered on the floor at the other end of the room, causing Alice a small amount of embarrassment. The two older women looked up to the girl in shock, taking in the strong and intimidating image they had beautified hours earlier. 

“Alice,” Layle muttered weakly, “what are you doing? How did you do that? And… what…?”

“What happened to you?” Nusa pointed to her arms, something Alice had completely expected. 

“A lot, honestly,” Alice deadpanned as she walked into the door. “Sorry about the scare, but I have to get backstage immediately. I’ve cleared a path for you through the kitchen so you can escape, just mind the bodies, and the stench.”

“Bodies?” Nusa rose to her feet, patting down her dress. “What in the gods’ names are you talking about? And apparently I must ask again: what happened to your arms?”

Layle rose to her feet in the same way, though less confidently. “Did you dip them in a bucket of ink or something? And how the hell did you rip the knob out of the door?”

“You’re asking the same questions, ladies, and I don’t have time to explain.” Alice’s head lowered angrily and she began to walk past the older woman. “I’m sorry, but it will have to wait until after I’m done.” 

“Hold it,” Nusa grabbed ger arm. Alice could have easily kept walking but consciously stopped herself against her immediate instincts. “You’re the one they’re searching for, aren’t you?”

Alice glanced at Nusa out of the corner of her eye, gritting her teeth. The older woman had a stern expression mixed with another emotion that puzzled the girl. “Yes.”

“And you killed those men, I suppose.”

“That’s right.”

Nusa let Alice’s arm go a moment later, her own arms falling to her side. Her gaze unmoving, she said, “This will be far more challenging than whatever you have already done, Alice. You know that?”

“I’m very aware.”

“And I suppose I can’t talk you out of it and convince you to just run right now?”

Alice looked ahead once again. “Someone has to make sure the girls get out safe, Nusa. And there’s no turning back after what I’ve done anyway.”

“That’s not all and you know it,” Nusa said, almost chastising her.

Alice could not argue with her; a chuckle escaped her parched throat instead. “And I’m going to _really_ enjoy it,” she said in a low tone. Layle stifled a gasp from behind them.

Nusa crossed her arms and lowered her head. “At least you admit it.”

“Are you going to lecture me then?” Alice replied, sounding more confrontational than she had intended.

“No, I’ll keep the lectures to myself.” Nusa paused for a moment, then put a hand on Alice’s pale shoulder. The gesture appeared caring to Layle, but the pressure Nusa was applying through her fingers let the younger girl know that it was not an entirely charitable action. “Just be safe, Alice, and do not bring the other girls into this. You may be able to make things better for us, but you are definitely able to make them a lot worse.” She took her hand from the girl’s shoulder.

“I know, Nusa,” Alice replied, “and that won’t happen. We’re all getting out of here tonight.”

“And where will we go?!” Layle suddenly spoke up from behind them. “Where can all of us go?”

Alice turned to her and shrugged. “Anywhere would be better than here, right?” The change in expression on both the ladies’ faces was all the reply Alice needed. “Right?” she pressed further.

“You know little of the outside world,” Nusa stated, “so do not step in the shoes of those who have already walked that path. Yet do not think we are ungrateful. It will be a challenge, to say the least, to find a safe place for the girls when they escape, but do not worry about that right now, Alice. You have already set these things in motion, though how you have done so is what concerns me more. And you owe us an explanation when you meet us.”

“And you will have it.”

“Good.” Nusa put her index and middle fingers to her lips, then brought them to Alice’s forehead, showing her the slightest hint of a smile. “And stay safe.”

Alice nodded her head, feeling a faint sense of fear for the two ladies. _Whether they are safe or not is up to me. I can’t afford to make any more mistakes._ “Thank you, both of you, for everything you’ve done.”

“Don’t thank us yet, Alice. Thank us when you’re out. We’ll help the rest of the girls while you… do whatever you’re going to do.”

“No need to be so nervous about it,” Alice smirked.

“Yes. Yes there is.” Alice’s smirk disappeared immediately. “Now go.”

Alice considered pressing the matter further but Nusa was already escorting Layle down the hall. _They fear me too, obviously. They’re not even trying to hide it._ The girl walked forward to the backstage door, her body immediately clenching from the memories it brought her, just as it did every time she walked through it. “Whatever, all that matters is that I’m gonna tear this whole fucking place down.”

Alice brought up her foot and kicked the door right off its hinges; it collapsed to the floor with a massive thud that shook every makeup bottle and accessory in the room, some tumbling to the ground and staining the carpet. Alice took a moment to breathe a small sig of relief. “That felt good,” she remarked with a smile.

“What the fuck was that?” Alice heard this all too familiar voice from in front of and slightly below her. She glanced down and saw the warty putridness of Rufer standing before her, now with a wine stain on his white shirt and a lip gloss mark on his face. “Alice?” he asked in a different tone from normal. He sounded almost frightened. Rufer immediately put on a laughably fake smile and spoke in the most pleasant tone her ever had to the girl. “Uh, where have you been, sweetness? We were all so worried about you with all the commotion going on. I’ve had some of my best men searchin’ all over the place for ya, you know? Gods, both and I and Worthson almost passed out when we heard you were missing.”

“I’m sure of it,” Alice deadpanned, trying to hold back the grin of excitement that was furiously fighting its way to her face. “And these men, have you heard from them recently?”

“Well, um, no, I can’t say I have.” Rufer took a shaky step backwards without realizing it, the forced smile on his lips quivering. “But now I can call them back and we can get you back to work, right? We got a _very_ bust night ahead of us and you’ve been the most requested escort, as always. Oh! And don’t worry about the door, we’ll just get one of the handymen to take care of that.”

“Aren’t you going to ask how I broke it down?”

Rufer’s eyes went wide as platters. “Honestly,” he started, “no. No I wasn’t.”

“And what about,” Alice raised her hands in front of her, still trying to keep her expression blank, “these?”

“I, um,” Rufer stammered, taking another two steps back, “just assumed it was some body paint, probably a special request from a customer, you know? We do cater to those sorts of men from time to time, it’s nothing unusual.” Rufer kept stepping back until he hit the wall, causing him to yelp in a way Alice had never heard.

 _Oh, the gods truly are good,_ she thought. “You know, Rufer,” she took a step forward, her neutral expression finally breaking into a wild grin with slanted eyes, “I would love to take my time with this, really drag it out for everything you have done to myself and the other girls, but I do have other places to be, and I feel that giving you any more time than needed would be better than you deserve.”

“Alice, please,” Rufer pleaded with a shaky voice, “it was just business. It was my job!”

“And you enjoyed it just the same!” Alice lunged forward causing the goblin to scream, but she did not hurt him. Her fingers extended three feet in front of her to both sides of Rufer’s large round head, getting her in just close enough that she could look him right in his black toad-like eyes without having to take in as much of his stench. “Every time you dragged me onto that stage, every sweaty, reeking, screeching old man you forced me to bed, every time you saw me bent over on the floor, you fucking enjoyed it! You better hope tonight was fun enough for you,” she glowered, her eyes widening as well as she scratched her elongated claws down the wall, “because not fucking one of your workers or _customers_ is leaving this damn place.” Rufer tried to thrash out of her control like a fish, but Alice plunged her fingers into his arm flesh in under a second, causing him to wail and lock him in place. 

“Please,” Rufer begged, “mercy!”

Alice’s expression transitioned from relishing the situation to shocked at it. Her cheeks clenched and her eyes widened further; her arms tensed and her breathing hitched in her throat before she croaked out a response. “Mercy?” she whispered. “You’re asking for mercy? After everything you’ve done to me, you ask for mercy?” Rufer tried to stammer a response but only gasps of breath came out. “Why? Why are you asking for mercy?!” 

“Hey!” came a sophisticated sounding man’s voice from their left. “What is going—” A sheering sound sliced through the air and the man’s chest. Without her eyes leaving Rufer, Alice had sliced the man’s chest open from across the room and returned her hand to its original position, embedded in the goblin’s flesh, before he had hit the ground.

“Tell me why!” she demanded. Rufer’s legs quaked beneath him and his heart pounded painfully in his chest. “Why would you ask for mercy!? TELL ME!!!” 

“Because I want to fucking live!” he cried out at the top of his lungs. “Gods, I want to live!”

“After you’ve caused to many women to beg for death, you beg to be let go!?”

“Yes!” Rufer’s voice was going hoarse from the ferocity of his screams. “Yes, though I don’t deserve it, gods, yes!”

Alice’s furious expression wavered for the slightest moment, then her head lowered, and she began to chortle. Then she laughed. Her blond hair fell from her shoulders as they rose and lowered from her laughter. “Wonderful,” she said amidst gasps. “Fantastic! Gods, yes!” She returned her gaze to Rufer’s eyes. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited to hear you say that.”

Rufer, in a hail Mary to get on her good side, tried to laugh with his assailant, but what came out was a broken, stuttering whimper. “I’m dead, aren’t I?” he asked with the tone of a madman.

“Oh yes. You and everyone else here.” Alice’s right hand retracted from Rufer’s arm and she placed it on his chest. The claws extended, piercing his flesh with a squelching noise and bringing bloodstains to his expensive shirt. Rufer gasped and began to cry whilst gasping for air that was escaping through his punctured lung. Blood began pouring out of his wounds and down Alice’s fingers. The girl removed her left claws from his arm and stood up straight looking down on the goblin.

“You complete bastard,” she uttered. “I’ve dreamed of this moment for a year, you know that? I’ve lain awake on so many nights thinking of how I would finally kill… Don’t fucking die yet!” Alice had noticed the goblin going pale and limp and punched him square in the jaw, jostling him to his senses for a few more moments. “Oh no, you don’t get to die yet. I’ve waited too long for you to just croak like the toad you are.” Rufer groaned in his throat and Alice was aware that his time was rapidly approaching, causing her gut to knot in anger. “Fine. Just know that I wanted this to last much longer, you worthless trash. I wanted hours, days of torturing you for what you’ve done. I’ll just have to be content with this.” Alice removed her claws, causing the wounds to spray a spurt of blood and Rufer fell to his knees, then to his face. 

The girl breathed deeply and shook the blood off her hands. “Finally,” she muttered. “Gods, finally.” Alice spat on Rufer’s corpse and confidently walked to the backstage door, gently opening it. _Don’t want to attract too much attention yet._ There were two scrawny stage hands sharing some beer with each other on the other side. They were dead on the floor before they had heard the door open. 

Alice then walked up the stairs to the rafters she had been tied up in earlier, silently praying that the goblins were still there. This was a goal she had been stewing on for hours and felt a need to at least check before finishing the job. With silent steps, she ascended the stairway and quickly heard the familiar voices of the goblins arguing between themselves. _This is just my lucky day,_ she thought. 

Off tempo and off key music played beyond the curtain. The two goblins were stuck in a heated argument over the taste of some dish apparently native to their home village. “Skosk”, they called it. Alice surmised that it was some sort of soup made with broth and various meats by the description she overheard as she climbed the steps. Did she care? No, there other things on her mind far more important than soup. 

Alice sneaked up the stairs silently, already planning her vengeance on the unlucky goblins. _Something poetic would be wonderful, even though I can’t quite go all out. No time for makeup obviously, but the rafters…_ She glanced upward, seeing the wires and harnesses they had used on her earlier dangling above the goblins. _I don’t know how to properly set someone up in those, so I’ll just improvise, I suppose._

Thinking on this did bring a smile to Alice’s pale face, despite her awareness of how depraved the situation was. The whole night for that matter was beyond anything she could have ever dreamed of doing, and not just due to the power required to succeed at it, the power she now wielded. With this power she jumped clear over the heads of the goblins and grabbed the wires before gracefully landing on her feet right next to them.

Barely a confused swear escaped the old goblin’s face before Alice wrapped one of the rough cords around the younger one’s neck, pulling with just enough strength to keep his neck from snapping. He sputtered and struggled in shock and confusion but Alice was able to tie the wire in a knot behind his neck with relative ease. Gritting her teeth and with a grunt of exertion she kicked the younger goblin from the platform. He let out not a scream, but some saliva filled guttural squelch before he was cut off by a loud, fleshy snapping noise. 

Now hanging from the grey wire behind the red curtains was a limp and lifeless goblin, his head tilted upward as if in silent prayer. 

The older goblin gazed down at his dead friend in shock. Alice had acted so quickly that only now was he able to process the situation. To the goblin, a small shadow had descended from the wires above, fell behind his younger friend and strangled him before he fell from the platform. Only then was he able to make out the Angel’s face.

The old goblin snapped to his senses and gritted his brown, horrendous and decaying teeth. “Bugger me,” he muttered. “How did you do that, Alice? _You!_ You’re one of the scrawniest bitches here! Nothing but skin and bones ever since you got here! How did you bloody do that?!”

“Shut up and die!” Alice shouted. “I’m tired of everyone’s damn monologues!” Alice pulled the cord tight in her hands and bounded forward at the goblin. He raised an arm to try to block her but she was faster, kicking his left leg out from under him, bringing him to a kneeling position. Alice darted behind him and pulled the wire around his neck with all the strength in her body, tying it against him as he struggled. “I don’t want to spend another moment in this place and all you idiots do is talk and talk and talk! Just for once I want you to die quickly and quietly!” The cord was tightened securely, causing the goblin’s vomit green face to become more faded before he was kicked from the platform, though he did not immediately die as he was suspended in the air.

The goblin struggled, gargling and growling as he grabbed for the wire to no avail. Alice stood straight as she looked down on her handiwork. This felt good to her, perhaps too good, she thought. Pride was not something she thought she should feel in regards to murder, even of those so vile as these goblins. Yet despite whatever second thoughts came to her mind, they were not able to overpower the feeling of relief and somehow enjoyment that welled inside her as the older goblin’s struggles became more and more weakened, before he finally went limp. Alice could not help but grin, before there was a loud snap above her, and the older goblin’s body plummeted through the air and crashed to the floor in a splatter of blood. Alice winced as a woman’s terrified screams followed, echoing through the backstage and prompting worried murmurs from the crowd.

“Oh shit.”

Alice ducked low, hiding herself on the platform as guards rushed to the source of the scream. They immediately began investigating the area and hurried the woman off to the private rooms. Blood and bile were splattered within a three-foot radius around the old goblin, releasing a horrific stench that even the burliest of the guards cringed at. 

Peering down from the rafters, Alice saw and heard that the entire audience was now in an uproar with Rufer’s pathetically ill-equipped stand-in attempting to placate the crowd and assure them that everything was under control. The girl felt a shallow sense of pride in her accomplishment, but that self-satisfied confidence began to fade. _Maybe I didn’t think this all the way through._ She assessed her situation from the rafters, attempting to find some sort of escape, but there was no where to go that would not run her right into another group of guards. One group would be manageable, but the entire staff would likely be troublesome, to say the least. Alice sighed heavily as she racked her brain trying to figure out just what to do next, until she caught the distinct whiff of smoke. 

And then the walls rumbled.

The agitated crowd instantly grew quiet as a sound like a single hit of a great drum roared from the other side of the building. Whatever caused it must have been terrifyingly strong, Alice surmised, as to cause the sound to travel all throughout the building and even overpower the panicking audience. _Oni, obviously_ , she thought. Alice saw more guards pour into the halls and run to the source of the noise, though most seemed to be less confident than they had been. Their superiors were shouting them down to get them to hustle, though even they seemed uneasy. This sight made Alice grin again. _A good distraction, at least._ _I might be able to slip out now, at least take Worthson down in the chaos then get the hell out of here._

More smoke wafted into her nostrils, though it carried with a sort of metallic scent as well, like a blacksmith’s shop. Whatever Oni had done was more than just setting some furniture ablaze or something of the like. In the midst of the panic, Alice rushed back down the steps from the platform, stepping lightly just in case any thugs were coming by. Such a thing would not be of any major concern, but the girl was now sharply focused on finding her former employer and escaping as quickly as possible. Distractions would only impede her.

_Though I do have to be careful. I probably shouldn’t let anyone escape this place, but I guess Oni’s at least taking care of the evidence on his own. Whatever he was after doesn’t matter right now, I’ve just got to get to that walking pile of garbage and get out of here in one piece._

Worthson’s office was in a lateral wing to the theater, and Alice was by this time able to navigate the way almost with her eyes closed. Many times, especially early on, she had been escorted down the halls like a prized yet furious beast, paraded through the cabaret to be whistled at, commented on in the most degrading fashion and mocked for her rebellious attitude. Sometimes she’d be pulled by her shirt, sometimes by her hair, others by her neck. But every time she made a riotous show for it, kicking and screaming and cursing in ways that made the patrons more impressed than put off. 

All these things came back fresh in her mind as if it was yesterday when she gazed on the evacuated hall. 

The audience had fled the theater and all hands present had been redirected to take care of the raging fire that had spontaneously occurred in the guards’ quarters. Alice deftly walked down the rafters and onto the stage, gazing out over the empty theater. Trash was thrown about everywhere, the whole room was in complete disarray, yet it had never seemed more beautiful to the girl. Alice felt a strange calmness within her as she looked out over the mess that had become of the cabaret, and though she knew she had to hurry, she could not help but relish in the moment, if only for a brief moment. 

Despite the panicked cries of patrons coming from the other side of the walls, the theater was very uncharacteristically quiet. To Alice it seemed that even the rats had fled the building, as she saw none scouring the floors for half-eaten garbage. Slowly, she strode along the center aisle, hearing in her mind the ironically classy music that normally played through the hall, though not loud enough as to drown out the terrified screams of whatever poor girl had been dragged out onto the stage. The stench of old men was still heavy on the air, just as it usually was, though it was not accompanied by the sound of their jeering, which added some modicum of tolerability, though not enough to make Alice stay any longer than needed to get her fix of self-satisfaction.

The girl would have taken a deep breath to really process the scene that lay before her, but that would involve inhaling more of the old man stench. Obviously, this was not exactly desired by her, so she decided to take one more look around the beautifully ruined theater before she left this place forever.

Whether or not Alice would be able to kill Worthson and his guards was of no question to her; the thought that stuck in her mind was of how she would do it. The question of what method she would use to finally end his pathetic life proved to be a difficult one to say the least, as a miasma of brutal images flooded her mind almost in unison. However, Alice would do it, it had to be slow enough for her to truly enjoy the catharsis of the experience, but fast enough that she would not have to fight off an army before she escaped. She did not want to engage any more reinforcements than she had to before setting off into the great unknown. It was only her desire to end Wothson’s worthless life that kept her from bravely leaping through a window and bolting as far away from this hellhole as possible.

Alice was so caught up in her disconcertingly devilish daydream that she had even become unaware of the stench of old men for a brief time, but it was that very stench that brought her back to the real world. The very thought made her cringe and her chest tighten reflexively after so long of inhabiting such a reality, but she knew also that that very reality was coming crashing down around her, even if it was not entirely done herself. Yes, she had help along the way, but this final act to her long, excruciating internment in this wretched cabaret was coming to a close. 

_Finally. Finally, gods, finally!_ Alice paused. _I’m so excited over… murder. I mean, they all absolutely deserved it, but I’m not a monster, right?_

_…_

The thought did not deter her, but only distract her. Alice began walking to the door, where beyond it lay her dream made just as real the pain she experienced in every one of the scant few memories she possessed. _I am not a monster,_ she looked to her black, inky hands as she walked. _But they will certainly know me as one._

_And I am okay with that._

Alice looked up and down the wooden door and heard some chatter on the other side; something about a man looking forward to bedding the new girl, Dana. Alice did not hesitate. She gritted her teeth, growling unconsciously and punched the door with all her might. It flew forward off its hinges and collided with the wall across the hallway. As the dust settled, one man lay on the ground before, bruised and gory, and the door lay on the against the wall, a massive dent in the wood visible in the middle. A river of blood poured out from underneath it, streaming down a hideously bent leg.

“Yeah,” Alice said aloud to no one, “that felt good.”

The girl ran down the hall to the right, Worthson’s office was not far. One lone guard was rounding the corner in front of her and Alice reacted so quick he did not even register her lunging straight for him. She punched him straight in the nose, sending the bone backward into his brain. He fell onto his back so hard his spine broke and contorted.

Alice pressed on.

The hallway leading to the owner’s office was a deep, fittingly if tacky sultry red. Not torches, but candles lit the way dimly, adding to the air of seduction Worthson desired. The old goblin always reveled in the fleshly pleasures of his business, and he wanted everyone to know that the moment they came upon his quarters. There were paintings of some of the more popular girls on the walls, all of them mostly to fully nude, including one of Alice’s petite, naked body. The angle of the painting looked down on her from above, focusing on the mascara streaming down her marked up face and over her bare shoulders. As she walked by it, Alice turned her fingers to claws and tore at the paper without looking at it, for she could not bring herself to. Three large claw marks scathed the painting from just above her face down the bottom of the frame. There was no real point in vandalizing the painting, it was just something Alice had long desired to do.

With that business concluded, Alice came on the door to Worthson’s office. She could hear no chatter from the other side, so there was the possibility the old pervert had fled the building. If that were the case, Alice would just have to scour the entire world looking for him, even though that would be an incomprehensible waste of time. At least that is how she surmised it. _I could just break down the door,_ she thought. _But I don’t want any more guards to possibly block my escape. Gods, I just need to get out of here. This isn’t even really fun anymore._

Alice rubbed her hand through her golden hair and down to her temple. She had started to feel tired. No, exhausted. Her muscles ached, her head pounded and her eyes stung. Thinking back on it, she had never to her recollection moved so much and with such intensity up until tonight. The adrenaline had gotten to her, and she was only now realizing just how much strain she had put on her body. Alice sighed. “Damn it all,” she said.

Her sense of vengeance was waning, but she knew what she had yet to do. Worthson must die by her hand, but even the thought of that was slightly less exciting than it had been earlier. So instead of barging in by breaking the door and slaughtering anyone in sight, Alice simply breathed deeply, indignantly, and knocked on the door.

Three times she tapped on it with her knuckles, making a blunt ticking sound. There was no response on the other side, so she knocked again, harder this time. Dents appeared on the door where the hit it, and she heard a startled yelp on the other side.

“Quiet, sir,” whispered a gruff voice.

“Damn it all,” Worthson whispered.

“Hey, Worthson!” Alice yelled at the door. “Come out here and die like a man! I’ll make it quick, promise! I’m tired of all this and I know you are too, so let’s just get it over with!”

“You think I’d actually come out there?!” Worthson called back. “I’ve heard what you did to my men, and there’s no way I’m going to face you, even with my bodyguards!”

Alice lowered her head and sighed again, then looked back up to the door. “Fine, I’ll just drag you out here myself.”

“Don’t you fucking dare--!” A black hand smashed through the reinforced door, grabbing the throat of one of Worthson’s bodyguards. Alice squeezed hard and his eyeballs nearly popped from his skull. She pulled back and slammed his head into the door, knocking him unconscious. She pulled her hand back through the new opening and ripped the doorknob from the wood, allowing the reinforced to open. The second and final bodyguard charged Alice immediately, but she ducked underneath the swing of his club and brought her claws upward into his chest and gut. She pushed him to the ground and he writhed in pain, clenching his five wounds and abandoning his employer.

“You…” Worthson mutterer to Alice’s right. She looked over to him as he cowered behind his desk. Alice smirked. “How are you doing this?! You were one of the scrawniest girls we had! You could barely kill a fly! How?! How did you kill all my men?!” Worthson’s stunted legs shook like they were electrified, and he tried to stabilize himself by leaning on his chair, but he still fell to the ground in a frightened heap. Alice grabbed the edge of the desk and pushed it out of the way with ease.

“I got a nice present tonight,” Alice glowered. “The best payment any client has ever given me, for it allowed me to walk right out of my room and slaughter all your bastard guards. Even Dusev died at my hands, and I _enjoyed_ it.” The anger of a year of violation and torture welled up inside her, becoming a raging inferno of hatred as she looked down on her captor. Worthson cowered beneath her in a way Alice had only dreamed of seeing, but dream she had of it. Many times. Many times, the girl fell asleep dreaming of seeing that very expression on his face as she looked down on him like so many looked down on her, and now it was reality. Nothing could have prepared her for the immense amount of sadistic joy she was feeling in her core. “Scream all you like, I’ll show you no mercy either way. But please, do scream for me.”

Alice picked Worthson up by the collar and he yelped, flooding her nose with his horrid goblin breath, but the girl was so enraptured with the experience of overpowering her boss that she did not care. “Scream, Worthson!” she snarled at him. “Scream for me, just like you made me scream the first night I was here! Scream just like all the other girls’ first nights! _Fucking scream!_ ”

Worthson’s eyes widened, and he screamed against his will. He tried to keep his fear bottled up in his chest, but it ripped through his lungs, up his throat and out his wide mouth. “P-please, Alice! Try to see reason here! I-I-I’ll let you go, really! You can just walk on out of here and my men won’t stop you, I promise.”

Alice snarled again and threw him against the nearest wall, knocking the painting of a naked, petite woman from its hanger. It fell on Worthson’s head with a thunk rather unceremoniously and tumbled to the ground beside him. “You know I wouldn’t just walk out of here with _you_ of all people still alive, yet you asked anyway. Have I instilled that much fear in you?” she asked with a cocky tone. “Have I?” Worthson trembled under her fiery gaze, her eyes seeming to him to be widening further still, giving her an unearthly appearance. “Answer me.”

Worthson’s hands were shaking before he answered, but what came from his mouth was not another beg for mercy like Alice had desired, but a laugh, deep and guttural. “You haven’t saved yourself, Alice,” he said low in his throat. “You’ve only fucked us both. You don’t know a thing about he world beyond my establishment. This _is_ your world, Alice! Out there, you’ll be eaten alive no matter how tough you are now. I don’t know where you got your new powers, but there are powers greater than even you right now can imagine out there, and they’d all be happy to punish you just for stepping outside—”

Alice grabbed him by his extremely wide throat, using her extended claws to wrap around his flesh. She hoisted him into the air, pushing him against the wall as he struggled and sputtered. “Don’t speak to me like you know me or what I can do.”

“I… of all people…” Worthson pulled back on her hand just enough to let him speak, “know you and what you can do, Angel. And that’s why I’m sayin’ you take one step out of here and—” Alice bore down on his throat again, constricting his airflow completely. “…you’ll be eaten… alive!” Worthson let out the most sickening perversion of a laugh Alice had ever heard. Through his being strangled, the goblin’s laugh sounded like he was choking on his own blood and trying to spit it out, but also seemed to enjoy it. 

Alice squeezed tighter, the goblin’s massive eyes bulging out and going red. Saliva poured from Worthson’s maw, and blood began to mix in with it. She squeezed tighter.

“Just stop talking.”

Worthson’s neck snapped, she felt the bone and tissue break under the pressure. A stream of blood fell from his left nostril. His head looked up to the ceiling for a moment before slumping over, his body going limp. Alice dropped Worthson’s body to the ground indignantly. To her surprise, her mind was completely blank. No rollicking thoughts of victory were able to pierce the distinct fogginess of her mind. Alice kicked the corpse haphazardly, making sure it was completely dead. Its weight shifted, but it remained still. 

Finally, Alice had an idea.

She looked down to the corpse of her boss and kneeled to grab his collar. She started dragging out the door with a huff. Blood still streamed from his nose and coated Worthson’s large tongue in his open mouth. The girl dragged him across the floor and out the doorway with one hand, looking forward as she did. Her ears were ringing slightly and her surroundings once again seemed to be foggy, though not in the same way they had been. This fog seemed real, and she stepped into it as she made her way to the hallway. This fog that should just be in her imagination also smelled.

“Smoke?” she asked to the air.

“Yup,” came a male voice from behind her. “What the hell are you doing with that corpse?” Alice whirled around to see Oni leaning against the wall, holding a pipe he was lighting with a flame on his fingertip.

“What are you doing here?” Alice asked.

“Thought I’d abandoned you, eh? Nope, just got busy. Sorry for the wait but it seems like you’ve managed perfectly fine by yourself.” He pointed to the corpse limply lying on the floor. “Honestly, I expected a bit more of a bloodbath. Your approach was almost diplomatic compared to what I set up for you, Alice.”

“Everyone was already gone.” She grabbed Worthson’s collar again and begin dragging him behind her. Oni took a smoke of the pipeweed and blew it out into the smoky air as he followed.

“Took too long to get here, huh? Thought that’s what happened. I’d already blasted my way through the whole basement area by the time I heard the audience start to panic. Gods, there’s some kinky shit they got down there. Did you ever have to use that stuff?” Alice grimaced and continued on her way silently. “I’ll take that as a yes.” He took another smoke. “Say what you will about this goblin prick,” he looked to Worthson with a smirk, “but he had good taste in pipeweed, at least. Very smooth, obviously imported. Wouldn’t find anything like this homegrown around here.”

“Where is here?” Alice asked.

“What do ya mean?”

“Where are we? And don’t say the Cabaret, I mean in what city are we located?”

Oni looked puzzled for a split second. “You don’t know?” Alice shook her head as they came on a garbage disposal chute. It was large, wide and made of metal. The panels were covered in old food and residue. “Oh, I see what you’re getting at.”

“It’s where he belongs, as well as everyone else here.”

“You’re not gonna dump every corpse in the building down here, are you?”

“Just answer the question.”

“Fine, fine, geez.” Alice hoisted the corpse into the large chute and dumped it. There was a loud tumbling sound before it abruptly stopped after a second. “He didn’t make it all the way down.”

“I know that, and I don’t care.” Alice turned around on her heel and made her way back toward the front door, looking more like someone had made a snide remark to her than like she had just committed multiple murders. Her lips were purse and her gaze was stern, and she walked as if she had somewhere far better to be and she was intent on reaching there as quickly as possible. This was true for her, at least.

Oni lit his pipe with his finger again and walked directly behind her. “You know, you’re not exactly dressed for venturing out into the big world, Alice. That, and you’re covered in blood.”

Alice stopped in her tracks and looked at herself for the first time in what must have been a long while. Her clothes were in tatters, only becoming more revealing, and just as Oni had put it, she was caked in blood splatters, especially on her inky black hands. “I’ve never thought about what I had to wear,” she said plainly, but with a twinge of uncertainty. “I only ever wore what they told me to wear,” she looked down the hall back towards Worthson’s office.

“Well,” Oni said as he took the pipe from his mouth, “we’ll have to do something about that quickly. It’s not likely that you’ll be treated as a normal member of society if you walk around looking like…” he looked Alice up and down almost condescendingly, “…that.”

“Thanks,” she replied indignantly.

“Of course,” Oni retorted with a genuinely polite tone and began walking with his back turned to her. “Now, where would we find some suitable clothing for you? Could you perhaps lead be backstage to costuming?” The young man stopped when he noticed he could not hear Alice’s footsteps. When he turned to face, he saw the girl inspecting her hands again and looking around the foyer as if she were lost. Oni pursed his lips in anticipation for what would happen next but held his tongue from producing more sarcasm. He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Is everything alright?”

Alice seemed to not notice his obvious indifference towards here current emotional state and spoke candidly after a moment’s pause. “I do not know anything of the world beyond this building, and the idea of going out into whatever is beyond this place is… confusing to me.”

“I thought it was all you wanted.”

Alice looked around herself, taking in her surroundings with a gaze and dashing of the eyes that would suggest she had never seen this place before. She then turned on her heels and started walking back into the theater, a slight uncoordinated limp present in her steps as if she was waking too quickly from a deep sleep. “It is exactly what I wanted, I just never gave much thought to what I would do when I was free, I guess.” 

The duo walked down the center aisle of the theater, covered in garbage to the point that it was difficult to make out the floor. Most of the torches illuminating the theater had gone out, leaving the seats in a dark and somber orange glow emanating from the walls in unconnected, seemingly random spots. “Well, then why did you accept my offer?” Oni asked her. Alice did not respond. “If you didn’t have a plan for what to do after you were free, why did you let me give you all this power?”

“I don’t know,” the girl replied. “But I do know that I’d take being lost out in the world rather than being captive in here.”

“You got a point,” Oni said with a shrug.

“Your power was astounding as well,” Alice continued as they came upon the costume closet. “I had drifted off many a night thinking of setting fire to this place and you put the torch I needed in my hand. I simply couldn’t refuse the opportunity.” 

While Alice rummage through what little mostly normal clothing the clothing rack had, Oni paced back and forth outside of the doorway. The pyromancer was simply growing bored, and the stench of burning wood and alcohol along with that of corpses was beginning to annoy him. “You done in there?” he called to the girl. “It’d be better to get moving sooner rather than later. Probably only a matter of time before the lawmen show up to investigate what’s all going on here. You know, what with the panicked crowds and murder and all.”

“Lawmen?” Alice asked. “I’ve bedded these lawmen you speak of, Pyromancer. I’m sure they will take pity on a beautiful old flame such as myself.” The girl spoke with a tone more self-confident than previously as she emerged from the costume parlor. Oni took in her image with slightly less apathy than normal. She wore a basic, form fitting black tunic and gray leather pants with a hooded cloak to conceal her abnormal blond hair and vibrant skin. 

“What the hell kind of whore would wear something like that?” Oni remarked coldly.

“The kind of whore that is going out to meet a special client in town but doesn’t want to attract too much attention,” Alice replied, walking past her companion without making any eye contact. “At least it fits. I’ve never personally worn it.”

“Appropriate for our circumstances, at least.”

“What’s your goal, pyromancer?” Alice asked from over her shoulder coldly. “Why did you set me free? Me specifically?”

Alice then looked back at the man, waiting for his response. His facial expression provided no insight into what he was thinking. His face was completely blank, too the point that she could have assumed he was attempting to make it so. “I’ve traveled far in my life, Alice,” he finally said, coming up to walk at her side. “I’ve seen and learned many things, and the more I learn, the more I know how much more I have to learn.”

“I suddenly am lacking in interest in your reply,” Alice stated, her gaze turning to an annoyed glare as they came to the front hall.

“And that learning and knowing shit,” Oni continued, “is why I came to know about this.” He pulled a bundle of papers from his coat and held them in front of the girl. “As you can see, this is that Worthson thing’s paperwork. I found it in a safe in the basement. Bloody hard to find, I might add. For a fucking worthless pervert, he at least understood the value of secrets such as these,” he perused the papers before putting them back in his coat.

“What are the papers about?”

“Complicated, uncivil, nasty stuff, not the things a pure young woman such as yourself would enjoy.”

“Your sarcasm,” Alice scowled, “is likely to get you hurt, Oni.”

“Oni? So, you do remember my name after all,” he chuckled. “Is it not easier to say than ‘pyromancer’, Alice?”

“Just tell me about the papers.”

“I’d be glad to,” Oni brushed past her in the now normal way, as if they were both dancers but neither knew who the leader was, “but not until we’ve had a stiff drink to calm the nerves after such an eventful night.”

“To what are you referring, pyromancer?” Alice asked.

Oni raised a finger to correct her on her overly formal name usage, but lowered it and sighed instead. “I am referring to getting you out of here and taking you out for a drink where I can explain what the bloody hell is going on.”

Alice raised an eyebrow before realizing she was already following him down the hall toward the side exit, something she had seen many times but had never used. Her footsteps seemed to grow louder as the rest of the world around her grew quieter, as if she was falling deeper into a dream. The world seemed to slow around her, her mind seemingly slowing as well. Fitting that the world would seem to become that of a dream, as Alice had dreamed of this very thing many a lonely and painful night. 

Oni slowed his pace as he heard Alice’s do the same. He pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance at the growing repetition of these starts and stops. Turning around and forcing a mostly unirritated expression, Oni asked her, “Aren’t you coming?” he pointed to the door at the end of the hall. 

“It’s just that,” she began, walking on in a slow pace, almost like she was floating across the floor, “I have dreamed about this moment for a year. It feels almost unreal, like maybe I am dreaming again, and that this isn’t happening. I also expected my knight in shining armor to be, well, just that.”

“Well, I’m sorry that my shining armor was at the cleaner’s. If perhaps this golden opportunity for freedom is not good enough for you, then I shall just leave you here for the lawmen to take care of.”

“No, wait,” Alice stopped suddenly, “do not leave me. I am merely getting acclimated to this… change.”

“You will have far more time and cause to get acclimated to this change when we are out of here,” the man replied impatiently.

“Fine.”

_Fucking finally,_ Oni thought.

Oni made his way to the double doors but was stopped by Alice before he could open them. “I want to do it,” she said. “This is my moment.”

Oni shrugged and backed away. Alice put her hands to the door knobs and turned them slowly. She pushed forward on the doors, feeling a warm breeze hit her hands immediately. _Holy shit, I’m actually doing it,_ she thought. As the doors opened, the same warm breeze hit her face and entered her nose. It smelled musty, dirty, with a hint of smoke. There was a bright, yellow candlelight at her feet when the door finally swung open, revealing a cobblestone street before her, going off into a street with buildings on both sides.

“Oh my gods,” Alice uttered.

What lay before Alice was a city like she had heard of from her many patrons. Buildings of stone stood up two or three stories from the ground, towering over the dirty, cracked stones of the street. Trash flew in the wind under the dim, pale light of the moon, peaking out barely through the wispy clouds. The sky was an inky black with hints of a pale, faded red, and the clouds were strewn about the sky in a way that more resembled fog than the clouds Alice had seen in paintings.

The sky itself unsettled Alice the most. The black base color was made strange and alien by the streaming red streaks flying across the blackness. Her gaze was fixated on the sky, craning her neck to see better above the buildings.

Oni raised an eyebrow as he came to stand beside her. “You okay?” he asked. “See something interesting up there?”

“There are no stars,” Alice replied softly. “I thought there would be stars.”

“What made you think that?”

“I was told my some of the older girls that the sky was alight with stars, like tiny lanterns or torches held in the heavens, as they described it.”

Oni looked to the sky, his eyes darting back and forth, following the streaks of red. He stroked his chin as he replied. “Sorry to disappoint you.” Alice looked to him, her expression saddened. Oni looked at her scrupulously. “If you go into the city expecting those old stories to come to life before your eyes,” he said as he began walking, “you will be very disappointed, Angel. Follow me.”

Alice snapped from her confused sadness. “Wait, you expect me to follow you after you say something like that?”

“Of course,” Oni looked back to her over her shoulder, another smug smirk snaking to his face, though Alice believed for a second that she caught onto a sinister sense to the smile. “After all, you don’t have a choice.” Oni’s shoes clicked against the stone and his hair, as did Alice’s, waved in the breeze, smelling moreso of smoke and burning wood.

“I do have a choice,” Alice persisted behind him. “I could go off on my own if I want! I’ve lived the last year with no help, and now I’m like…” she motioned to her forearms, “this.”

Oni turned around to look at her and snickered to himself. “You killed a few drunken pricks, sloshed off their asses to the point they could barely stand. You have little control over your abilities, far less than you seem to think you do. You’re flat worthless without me, you don’t know the first damn thing about this city!” Oni walks close to her, getting in her face and staring into her eyes, though she did not lean back away from him as he expected. Alice leaned forward into him, scowling defiantly at the pyromancer. Oni raised an eyebrow at her indignity and smiled faintly, amused by her defiance. “What’s the name of this city, Alice? Where even are you?”

Alice’s steely gaze softened slightly and she looked down to her feet, trying to remember any details she could from the patrons’ description of the city. She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“No, you don’t.” The sound of a clanging, worn out bell went off from their left. Up another street were hydromancers, summoning water from the nothingness of the air and manipulating it into floating rivers that flowed away from them. “We did that,” Oni said in a low tone. “Me and you are real arsonists now. Arsonists, and murderers.”

“Piss off!” Alice pushed him away from her. “This was your bloody idea! Stay off your high horse and don’t give me any of that mysterious and edgy bullshit. You don’t know me or anything about me! I don’t feel an ounce of guilt for what I’ve done.”

“Oh, I’m glad to hear it.” Oni started walking away again. “I was hoping you’d say exactly that. Now come.” He motioned over his shoulder for Alice to follow him. “Haveress awaits.”

“Haveress?” Alice asked as she caught up to him. “Sounds pleasant.”

“It was… once. Stay close to me.”

“Do not order me around like a pet!”

“Then focus on what we’re doing. If you get lost like a confused pup, I won’t go looking for you.”

Alice had half a mind to retort but held her tongue. _If he finds me so contemptible, why does he keep me around? He’s obviously not keen on answering me. Shit, I’ll just get it out of him another time._

The girl took her first steps off the landing and onto the street. Under her shoes the stone felt warped, bumpy and hard. Cracks in between the cobblestones would have done her in easily were she wearing her heels. The further out she walked, the more she smelled the disgusting odor of smoke and garbage. A dog barked somewhere to their right, and down an alley to their right, Alice heard what she assumed to be a couple engaging in a heated spat. She made her way to peer her ahead around the corner until Oni tapped her shoulder. 

“Don’t pay them attention,” he said amidst the vile cursing of the man and increasingly scared cries of the woman. “That is not our business, Alice. Nothing here is. We’re passing through, nothing more.”

“The outside world doesn’t exactly make a good first impression.”

“Just keep to yourself and most people will do the same.”

“Most?” she asked, now following a little closer.

“Yes, most. But we will try to avoid the exceptions, of course.”

Alice felt a twinge of fear in her gut and a slight increase in her heartrate. It seemed only now that she was aware of the situation she was in, what she was about to do. She was outside in the alien, seemingly unpleasant world, though certainly nothing could be as bad as the cabaret, right?

Whatever lie before her, whatever second thought she harbored in her mind did not slow her walk. She felt no inclination to turn back or strike out on her own without Oni. _He may be a dick, but he’s the only person out here I know. If I stay with him long enough, maybe I can reunite with any of the girls that escaped._ “Any” was the right word. However many of the girls actually did escape was a complete unknown to Alice, but surely it would not be difficult to hear talk of a large group of beautiful whores wandering about the streets.

She breathed deeply and clenched her dark, clammy hands as they made their way up the street. She passed a sleeping beggar to their right, curled up on the side of the street, curled up in the dirty brown rags he called clothed for warmth. It seemed every minute brought a new sight to help Alice feel more repulsed by this place.

And yet, she kept walking. The clicking of their shoes sounded off, echoing off the walls of the buildings around them, and it was then that she realized something: Alice had not yet looked back to the cabaret. Her disgusting, vile, abusive, objectifying, hellish prison she called home; she had not taken a single look back in spite of the anxiety she felt about this city. No, she had not look back, and she set a resolute, iron clad goal deep within in herself: she never would.

**{Reviews are always encouraged.}**


	2. 2: Severed

**SEVERED**

The stones of the street clicked quietly under Alice’s thin, flat shoes. The streets were damp, with puddles congregating in the uneven areas of the cobblestones, as if it had rained about an hour before. Her shoes were made of very thin, flimsy cloth and she could feel her socks already becoming damp and cold after only a few minutes of walking. The breeze was cool and musty, and it carried little sound with it. Everyone and everything around her seemed deathly still and quiet.

The buildings on either side of the two young people lacked anything of distinction between them. They all were three stories high and seemed to be made of the same stone as the street beneath their feet, lending in the darkness to an illusion of all aspects of their surroundings blending together as it all ascended upward about thirty feet toward the murky sky. For every twenty windows, Alice would see one emanating light behind its curtains. Rarely she would hear someone behind the curtain, often some kind of vulgar shouting, either in anger or pleasure. Mostly anger.

“Ignore them,” Oni said from in front of her. “And keep up. We’ll be at the inn soon.”

“The inn? Why would we go there?” Alice asked, perplexed. “I’ll obviously be recognized! It’s a miracle no one has seen me yet to begin with!”

“Relax, girl,” he replied curtly, “you’ll be disguised. I’m just working on finding something that will cover your face but won’t look suspicious.”

“Well then, why didn’t you just have me grab something at the cabaret?”

“Because,” Oni turned on his heels to look at her and continued to walk backwards with his hands in his pockets, “we need to avoid you looking like a whore. No one out here could afford the kind of costumes you girls had, it would look suspicious to a blind man who could only smell the old perfume stained into the clothes. You need to look as inconspicuous and homely as possible.”

Alice’s eyes suddenly found her feet as she grew sheepish. “You have a point,” she mumbled. “So how will we find something so ‘inconspicuous and homely’?”

“We will when we get there.” Oni turned around again but then stopped. “And we seem to be here.” The man turned his gaze down an alleyway to their left. Oni quickly walked down the alley without uttering a word to Alice, his feet gliding quietly across the stone.

Alice quickly rounded the corner into the alley. “Hey, what are you--?”

Oni whirled around and shushed her, glaring at her. “Just stay quiet and let me handle this.”

Oni turned again and walked down the alley with his hands in his pockets. His head was angled downward, and his shoes clicked against the stone, causing echoes to reverberate off the buildings. Alice could make out the silhouette of a large, keeled over lump leaning against a wall to the right. Garbage was the lump’s only company, and the stench of it was carried by the damp breeze. It was obviously a down on his luck man, arms folded and curled up for warmth in a thick but ratty cloak.

Oni came up to the man and stopped, looking down on him from above. The man was asleep, breathing lightly as if on the cusp of death. Oni took a hand from his pocket and snapped his fingers, producing a small orange flame on the tip of his index finger. He looked to the flame, then back to the man and kneeled down, holding his finger to the man’s face.

Holding his index finger out, Oni illuminated the man’s face and saw every line, wrinkle and scar that adorned it beneath and around his scraggly beard. All the hair on his face and head was brown like mud and thinning quickly. An inch closer and Oni would likely have set the man’s beard on fire. Oni pulled his finger back as the homeless man stirred, roused by the heat and turning his still sleeping face toward it. 

When the flame’s heat became less perceptible, the man slowly awoke with a confused look on his face. His vision came into focus, and he saw Oni kneeling over him, holding the flame on his finger close to his chest. “Who… who are you?” he asked in a daze, but recoiled back in fear. “What do you want with me?”

“Nothing much,” Oni replied. “Just the clothes on your back.” Alice’s eyebrows rose at Oni’s response. As she began weighing the merit of stepping in and convincing Oni to perhaps look somewhere else for clothing, he already began speaking again. “I will trade you, sir,” he said as he rose to his feet. “I can provide you with something for more effective at keeping you warm tonight than those soaked rags.”

The man looked Oni up and down then spat at his feet with a glower. “Fuck ye, man!” he sputtered with a drunken slurring in his voice. “I have nothin’ left but the clothes on my back, and you’d swindle me out of that too?! I wouldn’t give you anything if the damned world depended on it! Now scram before I get defensive of my possessions.”

“Sir, you seem to misunderstand. I’m not stealing from you, I’m _trading_ with you. You’re going to get something even better for tonight than that cloak. It’ll keep you far more comfortably warm than any old clothing you can pull out of the garbage.”

“And what will I do after tonight, huh?” the homeless man asked as he rose to his feet getting into a fighting stance.

Oni lifted his hands and clapped his hands together once. Immediately on contact, between his palms, a floating ball of flame was conjured. The ball hovered above Oni’s outstretched right hand, the inner portion glowing white with an orange tint and small flames of red, orange and purple ascending above it, pointed upwards. The pyromancer wore a condescending look on his face, raising his eyebrow as he glanced back and forth between the man and the fireball.

“You will be perfectly warm and comfortable for the whole night with this beside you,” Oni said plainly. “All you need is to give us the cloak and I’ll be on my way. You’ll never see me again.”

The man gazed deeply into the flames, entranced by its hue vibrantly shining in the dark of the night. The heat on his face warmed him to the bone, immediately drying the dampness of the air from his cheeks and brow. It was a long moment before the man shook himself from his trance and glowered at Oni once again.

“How are you doing this?” he spat.

Oni made no attempt to hide his growing annoyance as he replied. “Magic, of course. And it is with this kind of magic that I am very adept at _persuasion_. Now, can you be _persuaded_ to give up your cloak? I’m a very busy man and frankly I’m losing my patience.”

The homeless man looked to the fireball and bowed his head, his brow being warmed comfortably by the heat. “This will last all night?” he asked without looking at Oni.

“Absolutely. If it doesn’t, I’ll give you your coat back.”

“What about every night afterward?”

“Live for the present, my good man. It is a gift, just as the word implies.”

The man’s interest in the fireball quickly faded, and he turned to glare at Oni before he spat in his face. Oni returned the glare and let out a long, exasperated sigh as the homeless man slunk away from him, back toward his corner.

“You’re a fuckin’ scammer and a shit mage,” the man said curtly. “Were there any law enforcement around here, I’d have you rounded up and taken away where you can’t bother me or anyone else anymore! Now get out of here before I lose my temper!”

Oni waved his hand and the fireball disappeared in a cloud of blue tinted smoke that dissipated into the air in seconds. The homeless man’s angry confidence waned slightly as the mage’s eyes widened, looking as if he were the one that had been deeply offended. “I was making,” he said finally, speaking as slowly as he was now walking, “a generous, amicable offer. A simple trade is all it was, and you, garbage diving _rat_ , deny me the rightful reaping of the courtesy I sowed?” 

The man backed up away from Oni, holding his shaking hands out in front of him, sweat accumulating above his eyes. “Just wait a minute,” he said with more confidence than Oni had anticipated, “just ‘cause you’re better off than the rest of us doesn’t mean that what you’re doing isn’t any less illegal!”

Oni lunged forward faster than the man could react to and grabbed the collar of his shirt. Alice sprang into action just as quickly but was not quick enough to stop Oni from bringing his knee directly into the man’s gut. He wheezed, but for barely a second before Oni’s fist came up into his jaw sending the man sprawling on the ground, completely unconscious with blood pooling in his mouth.

“What the _hell!?!_ ” Alice blurted, grabbing Oni’s shoulder and spinning him around to look at her. “He was just a bum, Oni! We could’ve gotten a cloak from anywhere else! Why did you have to beat mug him?!”

Oni rolled his eyes at the girl and knelt down to pry the jacket from the man’s body. He patted it down and caused his hand to emanate heat to dry the dampness from the fabric. Holding it up to Alice, he replied, “It’s just a bum, like you said. A useless parasite on society and a waste of everyone’s time, including ours. We already wasted a damn good amount of time trying to get this from him, now be polite by acknowledging the lengths I went to get this for you and wear it.” Alice tried to cut in but Oni immediately interrupted her. “Just put it on. No arguments, no comments on what just happened, just put on the coat and we can get some rest.”

Oni pushed the coat further into Alice’s face, glaring at her from behind the warm fabric. The girl had half a mind to rip the cloak to pieces and punch him like he had the homeless man, but then again, was it truly _so_ bad? Yes, she had been complicit in a mugging, but what all had her employers been complicit in in the last year of her captivity? Was she not allowed to look out for herself for once? _That obviously isn’t right,_ she thought to herself as she pulled on the cloak, _but why should I care? I’ll be well rid of this town soon enough, and no one will bat an eye at a drunken bum getting robbed. Probably will forget about the whole thing when he wakes up after a punch like that._

That justification did not exactly sit well with her, but she knew it would have to do. With coat fastened around her and the hood obscuring her face, Alice followed closely behind Oni, who now seemed a bit more relaxed than she would have expected. He had just committed a mugging, and yet he walked with the same cool confidence with which she had met him. Alice noticed him rub his knuckles and shake his hand with which he had punched the bum, but beyond that he showed no visible reaction to the actions he had just committed. It was discomforting to Alice, but only for a moment. That discomfort then transitioned to a sense of proxy confidence.

If Oni was so self-assured in a world she knew nothing about, than Alice would likely little to worry about.

The duo resumed walking down the darkened street. Alice kept her hands in her pockets as she followed her guide, knowing that their discoloring was covered by the gloves, but feeling wary of it all the same. Oni said nothing as he led her through the town, but his body language indicated that he was keeping watch for other people. His head turned this way and that in regular intervals, almost rhythmically as he walked along. He would turn his head back to check if Alice was still following him about once a minute, then resume his observation of the area.

All the quiet was becoming increasingly boring for Alice. The thin bottomed shoes she wore offered little support on the cobblestone street, and it was only when her stomach grumbled painfully that she realized she could not remember the last time she ate. Oni immediately whirled around to face her at the noise, and Alice’s only response was to clutch her stomach and glare at him.

“Getting hungry, huh?” Oni asked plainly. “Don’t worry, we’re just about there, then we can get you something to eat.”

Just the thought of some hot food caused Alice’s mouth to begin to salivate. Most of the food she was given at the cabaret was dry bread and cold broth, but occasionally one of the older girls would sneak her a plate of fruit, or a pastry, or some other delicacy. And even in her lack of knowledge of the outside world, Alice inferred that the living conditions offered in a given inn would be far beyond anything she had personally experienced, so she was guaranteed to be gifted some food on the level of those wonderful treats, at the very least.

As they continued on their way, the only remotely interesting thing Alice saw was an extremely thin medium sized dog scampering around a garbage bin. It knocked the bin over and rummaged around the trash for something to eat, acting just as desperate for sustenance as it looked. It was sad, in a way, to Alice. This beast seemed confused, impulsive, its movements erratic and stinted. For a brief moment, she wondered if it would be humane to put it out of its misery, but she brushed the thought aside. The dog picked up a discarded, rotting fruit and scampered off again down the alleyway.

“Is food scarce here?” Alice asked, puzzled. “None of the clients at the cabaret seemed lacking in the stuff.”

“In this part of town, it can go either way. Though, we are certainly in the slums, which I chose deliberately. Fewer people that will likely recognize you.”

“Because these people would have been too poor to afford me?”

“Right on the money, honey. Let’s just move, I need some hot soup and a nap, and I’m sure you do too.”

“Yeah,” Alice responded with a heave as she began to lag behind Oni, “I feel like my body put on a few hundred pounds. And my limbs feel like lead.”

“Your body was essentially on the biggest high it’s ever experienced when you transformed, and now you’re crashing down from it. If we had the time, you’d probably go a good two days without waking up.”

“I feel like I could do that, now that you mention it. How far to the inn?”

“A couple minutes, that’s all, then you can get some food in your system and rest up.”

Just as he had put it, only three minutes passed before they came on a large, wooden building. Firelight shown from inside, orange and red danced in the windows as a splash of drink was thrown out of one. Alice compulsively pulled her hood tighter over her head as she heard raucous screams like those of her clients reverberating off the walls and pouring out from the door. Her face twitched as the memories came back to her and she pulled her hood tighter and wrapped her arms around herself. Oni looked back at her and only raised an eyebrow. “Come on, the sooner we check in the sooner we can rest.”

“Okay…” Alice sighed.

When they entered the inn, Alice saw exactly what had been described to her multiple times during her stay at the cabaret, when hearing the girls who actually had their memories of their former lives explain how they had spent it. There was a large, rectangular fireplace glowing with orange embers and cinders rising up into the air with the dark, musky smoke. The large room smelled of alcohol and wet wood burning in the fireplace. Men and women came and went, cheered with each other, bumped their mugs together, and spoke of whatever they fancied, be it the “new girls down by the South quarter” or how the wife was going to kick them out. One woman spoke loudly, slurring about how her husband had raised his fist at her for the third time in the past week, and how she was afraid the next time he would actually bring it down on her. Alice was so wrapped up in her observations that she did not notice Oni checking them in with the innkeeper.

The man behind the counter was slightly shorter than Oni, coming up to about his neckline. He had the same wide, greyed eyes as everyone else, and sported a barely kempt beard, speckles of grey dotting the brown hair. “Well, ser, that’ll be two gold coins for the room, and any food or drink will be extra.”

“I understand, thank you.” Oni dropped the requested amount of gold on the table and quickly walked away with Alice in tow.

“Do I ever get a word in?” Alice interrupted, annoyed, while Oni walked past the rabble among them towards their room. 

“What are you talking about?” he replied without looking back at her.

“You walk around, leading me on like I’m your pet. I’m just as much a person as you, you know!”

“I told you to be quiet and just follow me for your own good. You’ve been doing a very good job at that until now.”

“I am not some dog to be kept on a leash!”

“Will you shut it?” Oni sneered back at her as he unlocked the wooden door to their room. “Attention, in case you’ve forgotten, is the last thing we need right now. If you’ve any complaints, comments or concerns about how I saved your damn life from slavery, then you may voice them in here, when the door is closed.”

Oni pushed the door open quickly. The hinges squeaked and the doorknob was flimsy, rattling as he turned it. With a huff, Alice entered the room before him, bumping Oni’s shoulder callously before she sat on one of the two flat, bland beds. At least, it appeared that way to Oni. When Alice sat on it, she almost felt sleep take her while she was still sitting upright. The bed was a far cry from any kind of luxury, but to the girl’s perspective, it was as if she was sitting on a mattress of pure down, plucked from the birds of some far off fantasy land like the ones she dreamed of at night.

“Alright,” Oni sighed, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe, “let’s hear it. If you still have some criticism to add.”

Alice glared at her savior, trying to muster a coherent thought to rail against him while her eyelids threatened to shut themselves and pull her into the hardest slumber of her life. She shook her head to wake her up in any capacity. “I…” she began slowly, “am grateful for your rescue, Oni. I truly would not be here were it not for you.”

“Not exactly how I expected this to start, but alright.”

 _I will tear your throat from your neck and shove it back down your mouth._ “But I will not allow myself to be treated like some pet on a leash, as I’ve already said.” Alice stood to her feet shakily. It was as if her whole body was working against her in exhaustion. Her mind pulled her to lay her head on the pillow and her legs threatened to give out in protest of her continued consciousness. “I want to know who you are, Oni, and why you freed me. And just what the hell you stole from Worthson’s office.”

Oni clenched his jaw at her demands and his gaze narrowed. Then he gave his smirk, both confident and unphased. “Is a man not entitled to his own opinions and motives, Alice?”

“Not in this case, you aren’t.”

“Ooh, feisty!” Oni perked up, standing up straight and letting his arms fall to his side. “I really appreciate how you have the _audacity_ to make demands of me when it was I who allowed you to escape that hellhole you called a home and am now escorting you around this lovely city without even asking you to share the cost of the inn.”

“I will have none of your roundabout reasoning, Oni!” Alice stated defiantly. “I will, however, have my questions answered!”

“And how exactly will you _have your questions answered?_ ” Oni was about to laugh when something sharp and cold grazed his jugular. Alice’s black, inky finger was outstretched, pointed right at his throat, and had extended itself to just barely touch his Adam’s apple. Oni did not move, but simply looked between the finger and the girl pointing it. His self-satisfied smirk soured into a heated glare. “You would be wise to lower your finger, _Angel._ ”

“Do not dare call me that,” Alice glowered.

“Are you truly going to threaten your savior for information, Alice? Here I thought we were becoming good friends.”

“I eliminated the strongest guards in the cabaret without taking a scratch. I think I could handle some drunkards and bums just fine were I to strike out on my own.”

“Then why have you not done so yet?” he asked before stretching and yawning, seemingly disinterested in her response.

Alice felt as if she was about to blow steam from her ears, she was becoming so infuriated. Her “savior” was downright insufferable, even without being more tired than she ever had been in her life. Alice took a deep breath, calming herself just enough to not rip Oni’s head from his shoulders. “I was hoping you would prove to be an efficient guide,” she finally replied. “And that you would tell me why you saved me. I’m guessing it has something to with Worthson, correct?”

“Sharp as a nail, you are.” Oni took off his shoes and placed them by the door before stretching again.

“And what exactly did my former employer have to do with you?”

Oni hanged up his cloak in the closet without looking at her, humming some tune softly to himself. _He’s trying to keep me on edge. Is there some reason for it? Or is he just enjoying being a jackass?_

“Your former employer,” he replied as he sat on the bed next to hers, “had business relations with some very powerful people, Alice. I doubt you knew anything of it, since they did not frequent his establishment. The old toad had engaged in transactions and partnerships with people of both professional and personal interest to me, and now that I have his records, I can complete some long waiting business of mine. I also needed something, or someone, to do the dirty work for me so I called waltz into that goblin shitstain’s office and nab all his information. Every damn dirty secret he ever had is now in my possession, thanks in large part to you.”

Alice’s eyes once again threatened to shut on their own, but she managed to bring herself back around. _Just a little… more time…_ “So… I’m just your fall guy?”

“True, and you’ll be my bodyguard and travelling companion for the time being.”

“I never agreed to be your hired muscle.”

“But you are already adept at it, as the local law enforcement have found out. You know nothing of the world, and it is that lack of knowledge that will keep you at my side. Hell, you don’t even know who’s king of these lands.”

Alice bit her lip to keep herself awake. “I never had to think about it. Why? Will you be having business with him?”

“As a matter of fact, I will, Alice. I would very much love to discuss my plans, but even running on fumes would be hyperbolic to describe you, so we will just have to continue this another time.”

“I do not need you to tell me when to go to bed, Oni!”

“I’m not commanding you or anything of the like, I am merely making an observation. Your body is ready to collapse; it’s a miracle you haven’t done so already. Sleep, and tomorrow, while on the road, we will have plenty of time to discuss matters.” Oni layed back on the pillow and closed his eyes. “Just mind the nightmares, girl,” Oni said. “You may be prone to them now.”

“I have had nightmares almost every night for as long as I can remember.”

“Which is not saying much.”

“I mean that I am used to them.”

Oni yawned again and put his hands behind his head. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Alice. Sleep well.”

In that moment, Alice’s strength finally gave out and she fell onto her side on the bed. The sheets did not smell the least bit clean, but she was only barely able to perceive that before her eyes shut as tight as if they were welded. Only one thought of the day she had endured, and one thought of fear at the unknown future, entered her mind before sleep took her in its grasp tighter than it ever had in her life.

The girl awoke in a mental haze, her eyes stinging as they tried to open. The lighting in the room had not changed as it was still dark out, just as it always was, and Alice had no idea how long she had been asleep. She tried to move, but her muscles immediately made their strong protests to the idea known as they burned in her arms and back with the slightest movement, causing her to hiss as she laid back on the pillow. 

Alice stared at the ceiling, remembering the events of the last day in increasing detail. _I’m a murderer,_ she thought. _I’m actually a murderer. How many people did I kill? Gods, I can’t believe I can actually ask that question. All because of him…_ She looked over to the other bed, but saw that Oni was not there. The bed was empty, with the sheets neatly made up and the pillows arranged just as they had been when they arrived. _Did… did he leave me? No, no, that’s ridiculous. I’m sure he didn’t leave me, I’m just not sure about where he would have gone…_

Alice slowly forced herself to sit up despite the pain it caused her. She looked around the room and along the flooring to see if there was any indication as to Oni having been there. That was when she got a whiff of something… foul. It was her, she reeked of sweat, and something else. Alice looked down at herself; right, blood. She had not bathed herself since last night, and thus the dried blood still visible on her arms arms, hands, and torso. She could not see it under her pant legs, but she could feel crusty, dried splatters of blood clinging to her skin when she moved. “I do need a bath, I guess,” she said aloud. “Probably not very personable of me walking around covered in the remains of other people.” 

Alice remembered seeing signs in the foyer for a communal bath when she arrived, but where it was located was lost in her memories. _Well, if Oni can just up and leave and prance about the premises without telling me, why should I give him the courtesy? It’s only a bath, after all._ She stood up confidently to her feet only to groan and bend over in pain as her muscles burned all through her body at the movement. “Gods, I really do need a hot bath,” she whinced, rubbing her back like an old lady. Alice breathed deeply and sharp and stop up straight, focusing on the idea of a warm, relaxing dip in steaming water to distract herself from the pounding aches all through her body, and walked slowly out of the room.

Wearing only socks, Alice walked along the cold, dusty floor, her feet becoming chilled as her face was warmed by the subtle heat of candles along the walls, illuminating the hallway in a soft glow. She heard music, muffled but discernable as it traveled through the walls. The strings of a lute plucked at chords and notes in a calming, steady rhythm as if the instrument was conducting the heartbeats of its listeners to slow down, and engage with the music in its deliberate, soothing tempo. 

Alice had never heard music quite like this, but she had heard some of the girls from the cabaret discuss such things. One girl by the name of Mina had told stories of sitting by a campfire with her family and friends, eating soup and conversing with each other while her father played a guitar, which apparently was some other kind of string instrument. She had said they would gaze up at the stars and hold each other close while singing folk songs from their village for hours until they fell asleep in the dying glow of the firelight. Such stories always cheered Alice up in her darkest nights, and after particularly debaucherous work, Mina would occasionally cuddle with her on her bed and sing her a song in a tongue Alice did not know, but she loved the sound of all the same.

It calmed her when every inch of her body was sore and bruised, and warmed her heart when the night chilled her to the bone. In those moments, the world made a little more sense to her amnesiac mind, as she knew that if the world were truly completely and absolutely cruel, then there was no way that so beautiful as music could exist in it.

As Alice followed the signs toward the bath, just around a couple turns, it seemed, the music grew louder and clearer. She then came across a door with a sign above it reading “LADIES’ BATH” in all capitals, roughly carved into the wood in jagged lettering. _Not exactly a welcoming atmosphere._ She pushed the door open, revealing the sight of a small, steaming spring encircled by walls of smooth gray rock, and as the door slid open to reveal the spring in its entirety, so too did the music of the lute become clear and vibrant.

There was no one in the bathing area, save one to Alice’s left, sitting atop a rock with her legs crossed, was a girl about Alice’s age. Her eyes were large and gray like the stone and her frame was petite beneath her muted green clothing: a loose-fitting button up shirt atop not but undergarments above her legs. She plucked away at the lute, her gaze alternating between it, the spring, and the stars above. She alternated rhythmically between chords and individual melodic notes all in a lower key, and Alice simply watched on for a moment, forgetting why she was even here.

The girl turned, noticing Alice without stopping her playing. She simply smiled and nodded in greeting before going back to her lute. She resolved on a chord then quickly and deftly changed the tuning of the strings before cracking her knuckles and playing again, this time in a softer, slower, sadder minor key. 

Alice had begun undressing and laying her clothing out on a bench next to the spring. As she stood there, only her womanhood now concealed, she got a good look at the faded, dried blood splatters adorning her milky white skin, save her new black arms and hands. As the minor chords continued to flow into each other like a stream, she reminisced on the violence, the rage, the death. Instead of dwelling on it any more than she already had, she banished the idea from her mind and dipped a foot in the steaming water.

Alice yelped as her cold feet touched the hot water, her toes feeling singed for but a moment before she sighed, suddenly awash in calming heat all through her body. She lowered herself into the water, the blue around her becoming tinted in red as she made contact and the blood on her body already began to wash off.

Leaning against the edge of the rocks, smoothed by the constant flow of water, Alice closed her eyes and, instead of thoroughly bathing herself as she had planned, gave into the relaxing heat of the pool. Her muscles that had just been as tight and exhausted as if she had run a marathon gave way, feeling looser, lighter. She had become so intoxicated with the release of stress that Alice did not even notice the music had stopped.

“Long night, dear?” came a female voice. Alice opened her eyes and saw the girl with the lute looking at her with a friendly smile as she laid her lute in her lap. “Pardon my interest, if it is a personal matter.”

“It is, actually,” Alice responded quickly, shutting her eyes again and leaning into the rock. “It’s… very complicated, I’m afraid.”

“Would your arms perhaps be related to such complications, dear?”

 _Why the hell does she insist on calling me ‘dear’? It’s awkward and pandering, to say the least. She looks like she could be younger than me._ “They are, well…” In her rush to find Oni and then to relax in the water, Alice had forgotten to wear something to cover her discolored arms, and therefore had forgotten to come up with some convincing lie to deter any who caught glimpse of it. “They’re tattoos. Yes, tattoos,” she said quickly, hiding her arms under the red tinted water.

“I have never seen tattoos like that, dear. May I ask where you got them?”

“May I ask why you are so interested?” Alice replied curtly, turning her body away from the girl just enough to get the point across. Was it rude? Definitely, but the constant questioning was making it extremely difficult for Alice to relax.

With an embarrassed, sheepish tone that Alice had not wholly expected given her previous demeanor, the girl replied, “I meant no offense, Miss.” She turned her face away and looked down at the strings of her lute. Her cheeks began to redden as she started tuning her lute again. “I was only just as you said: interested.”

Alice sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. _Perhaps I was too harsh on her. She doesn’t seem like the one to sick the guards on me._ “No, I apologize.” The girl began playing through more chords on her lute, this time in a plucky major key. “I am not surprised you would be curious about them. Or the blood that’s now fading into your pool.”

“That part is not exactly uncommon here,” the girl turned her gaze back to Alice slowly, as if silently asking permission to look on her again. “Many women have come to the pool to clean themselves of the marks of the previous night, you are not alone in that pursuit.”

 _I highly,_ extremely _doubt that so many women come to your pool to wash away sins such as mine, dear._ Despite what she was thinking, Alice nodded in agreement and took a towel laying by the pool and began to scrub herself. She had to put in more effort than even she anticipated to get the dried blood off. She stood up to her feet and began to wash the bloodstains from her thin legs. “Might you know the time, Miss?” Alice asked the girl as she continued to wash herself.

“It is two and a half past moonfall, dear,” the girl replied. “Lunch was only a couple hours ago, did you perhaps miss it?” _Two and a half past moonfall? I was asleep for almost twelve hours!_ “Oh, and please call me Whilly, if it would suit your fancy.”

“Whilly? Not exactly the name I would expect from a woman of your beauty.” Alice finished cleaning her legs and moved to her arms, once again beset by memories of the previous night, but only for a moment before she banished them from her mind.

“Whilly is the name my father gave me nonetheless. I believe he was hoping for a boy when I was born, at least that’s what mother tells me.”

“And he names you that out of, what? Disappointment perhaps?”

“That’s what I think.” Whilly transitioned from strumming her chords to plucking them with her fingers, now playing a song that sounded as if it was written for a harp with its transitions between chords flowing in out of each other like an orator presenting a speech of impeccable alliteration, or like a breeze in a field that Alice spent her time fantasizing about. “He doesn’t hate me, I know that. But he does get rather cold towards me after a few drinks especially.”

“Sounds like a bit of a jerk to me.”

“At least he takes care of us, unlike many other men that come through the bar,” Whilly replied with the slightest hint of a sharper tone, accompanied by a noticeably harder pluck of her lute strings.

“Better than many men can claim, dear.” Alice put her hands behind her head and floated in the water. She could even feel her heartbeat begin to slow as she tried to calm and clear her mind, just resting in the all-encompassing heat.

“Does that mean you have experience with an absentee father, dear?” Whilly asked curiously.

Immediately, Alice’s attempts to clear her mind were rendered null as she was flooded with more memories and feelings. Her face twitched as she saw herself in compromising positions, and remembered the feelings of resentment at a man she did not know. _Shit, so much for relaxing._ ‘What kind of man would abandon his daughter to a place like this?’ she had asked herself many, many times, and equally as many she had promised herself that, whoever it was that called himself her father, he would die by her hand. Someday…

 _If only I knew who he was, then perhaps Oni would be able to lead me to him._ “Perhaps, Whilly,” Alice finally responded. “Honestly, I don’t know for sure.”

Whilly stopped her playing and her eyes narrowed. “You do not know your father?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Are you an orphan then?”

 _Am I? Whatever I may be, that might be a better answer than the truth. I guess it will do._ “Yes, I am. I don’t know my parents at all.” _I mean, that part isn’t_ technically _a lie._

“Oh, dear, I’m so very sorry,” Whilly held her hand over her chest and looked genuinely upset by the revelation, which Alice found quaint and unnecessary. _Why do you look so downcast by the idea? You’ve only known me a few minutes._ “Perhaps it was impolite for me to have pried… again.”

“It’s no matter, dear. It’s well behind me now. All I know if that whatever road I may take, it takes me farther from where I started.”

Alice’s callousness left Whilly feeling now more confused than empathetic, shown in her raised eyebrow and hands falling on her legs. “Well, at least you are well and done with it, I suppose.”

“True, dear. Nothing holds me back anymore.” Alice stood to her feet and rung out the water from her hair before draping herself in a towel. It was only then that she noticed Whilly staring at her, and a blush appearing on her cheeks. “It is impolite to stare, dear,” Alice said after looking away from her and walking back up to the ground. 

“I’m sorry, Miss.” _Gods, could she be more awkward? Or obvious? This girl needs to get out more._ “You are simply… very beautiful.” Willy began once again tuning her lute strings, or at least pretending to do so. Alice could tell she was only acting to alleviate the awkwardness.

“Are you sure it was not for the scars across my back, dear?” she asked as she adjusted her towel over her bust.

“Those are not uncommon here, Miss. There is more to a woman’s story and personality than just what her physical aspects show.”

“You’ve got that right,” Alice muttered. “Thank you for your time, dear. You were good company, and your lute was a wonderful distraction from the world.”

“Oh, thank you, Miss,” Whilly smiled at her and bowed her head. “I apologize though if I offended you in any way.”

“You didn’t at all, dear.” _Much._ “But I’m afraid I must be going now.” Alice quickly dried off and put her clothing back on.

“Busy day planned, perhaps?”

Hearing this made the girl realize that she was at a loss for what her plans were for the day, as Oni had coyishly refused to tell her. “Yes, dear,” she replied, “I have quite the day ahead of me.” _I think. I hope._ “Thank you for your time, if I had any money on me, I would tip you.”

“It’s no problem, dear. Just look after yourself.”

Alice forced a fake chuckle at the girl’s joke. “I will try, dear,” she said as she began to walk off. “See you, Whilly.” 

“See you!” 

As Alice came to the door, Whilly began playing her lute again, happier and more rhythmic than previously. _She really lets her emotions guide her playing. Hmph, at least it comes from a genuine place._

_I just hope that bastard is as annoyed with me as I am with him._

Upon drying and dressing herself and making her way back to the room, Alice found her companion sitting on the bed, stroking his chin and mumbling to himself as he inspected some papers. His eyes darted around the page, pausing in quick succession to focus on some detail or another before moving on to the next page. Whether he heard Alice enter or not, Oni did not pay her any mind as she walked in.

“Interesting reading?” Alice asked, exaggerating the annoyance in her tone to gain a greater deal of his attention. “Something horrifically inappropriate, I’d bet, given how engrossed you are.”

Without looking at her, just as he had many times before and it only annoyed Alice more every time, Oni replied, “This may understandably come as a surprise to you, Alice, but some of us men are capable of keeping our cocks hidden away in the presence of invigorating stimuli, which this is not in the slightest; at least not in that sense.”

“Ah, one of those files you stole?” Alice walked to the washroom to dress herself without waiting for his response. 

“Indeed.” Oni set the stack of papers down and went from scratching his chin to his head. “Your boss was making some very dangerous friends, Alice. And only now do I know how.”

“Pray tell,” Alice said from the other room, feeling at least slightly interested in the machinations of her former employer.

“Your boss was involved in drug deals with some powerful and easily angered individuals. Seems he also made a habit of trading supplies with these men; food, alcohol, and other provisions in exchange for… well, protection, and procurement of certain goods.” 

Alice cringed at the mention of “certain goods”. She knew exactly what it meant, gritting her teeth as she towel dried her hair and emerged from the changing room. “You mean girls, yes?”

“I do. May even be how you were procured. Actually, do you remember how you came to be in Worthson’s employ, Alice?”

The girl sat down on the bed adjacent to Oni, combing her hair with her hands just to get out some tangles. Her newly sharpened fingers were proving very effective at undoing the rat’s nest that her hair had become. Alice looked Oni’s way briefly, locking eyes with him for just long to catch genuine curiosity in his gaze. “I don’t remember anything sensible about it, honestly.”

“Sensible?”

“As in I can’t make heads or tails of it. Just a few images, sounds, and feelings.”

“Care to elaborate, sweetheart?”

“What’s it to you?” Alice leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands as the images came flooding back to her even as she tried to disperse them.

“Curiosity, as usual. You can ask me that as much as you want every time I ask you something, Alice, and every time you’re gonna get the same damn answer.”

“Touche.” Alice did not meet his gaze, but Oni could still see the twitch in her eyes and jaw as she recollected her past. It was subtle, and she attempted to show no reaction to it, as if she was completely used to it or just did not notice. But Oni did not mention it, content to just sit back and listen.

“The first thing I remember,” the girl began in a surprising monotone, “is the loud noises, in some dark room. It was some kind of carriage. It rattled, bumped and jostled me for… I’m not sure how long. I think I was asleep, or unconscious for most of the time. It’s just momentary flashes and sounds that I remember.”

Oni stroked his chin and said, “Mm hmm,” not caring for the annoyance it was likely to cause Alice.

“Next thing I know I’m being carried into the Cabaret. I couldn’t even move, so they carried me like a sack of potatoes. I remember a little more of this, just enough to remember some things they said about me, and the way they groped me. I don’t think they even knew I was conscious. Or they just didn’t care.”

“I see.”

Alice paused, got to her feet and stretched. “And that’s about it until I started training.”

Oni looked back and forth between the young woman in front of him and the papers to his side. Given the experiences Alice had endured only hours earlier, Oni expected her to be at the very least concerned about what was going and what had happened to her previously, but she appeared only mildly annoyed by remembering her traumatic life. Her body language was stiff; what little movement she showed was rigid and expressionless, as was her face. Alice’s facial expression was almost uncannily neutral, save for a scant few nearly imperceptible twitches in her lips and nose.

“Well,” Oni began again, “would you like to finally know what I was doing there and what I found?”

Alice crossed her hands and smirked, attempting to imitate her companion for the sole purpose of annoyance. “Please do, sir,” she replied coyly.

Oni cleared his throat in manner almost pompous, leaving Alice with a single moment of regretting asking the man anything in the first place. “You see, sweetheart, your boss was in league with some very powerful and dangerous individuals and organizations, but I frankly couldn’t give less of a damn about most of them. In fact, I spent so long scouring Worthson’s office for the right files because he was so inundated with reports and requests that anything I cared about was buried under months, even years-worth of paperwork. Gods, that man needed someone to help with filing as much as he needed to breathe.”

“Mm hmm,” was Alice’s response, leaning against the table in their room and folding her arms, putting on the most unimpressed expression she could muster. True, he was just telling a story, but the girl was resolute on taking every chance she could to get back at Oni for his incessant smarminess.

“One of these men was a particularly formidable bastard by the name of Diedrich. Nasty prick, that one. Though ‘man’ wouldn’t be a very accurate designation. More like a raving beast in a perverted visage of a man. Even got horns coming out of his bloody head.”

Alice grimaced and grunted in irritation. “Are you trying to put me back to sleep?” she blurted. “We’re here to discuss your findings and strategy, not write a fucking biography!”

“Right, Gods above, okay!” Oni shouted back, then rubbed his temple. “Alright, he’s the leader of a band of mercenaries who have recently spent most of their time extorting money from outlying towns and taking freelance work to dispose of, say, uncooperative workers and upstarts. They also apparently,” he picked up one of the many papers and ran over the content, “have been contracted twice to procure new employees for Mr. Worthson. Even lining up with the time you say you arrived.” 

Alice looked agitated by this revelation, her hands tensing and her gaze narrowing on the man. But then she smirked, and then she lightly laughed. “Are you perhaps offering me more revenge, mage?” she asked in the most insufferably smug tone she could muster. She raised her eyebrow and bared her teeth in her devilish grin. Oni could swear he saw her fingers extend about an inch.

“While it was not exactly what I expected,” he stood to his feet nonchalantly, “it turns out that may very well be exactly what I am offering, sweetheart. Now you can end the miserable life of not just the man who held you captive, but the source of all your problems in the first place.”

“And may I ask what _your_ interest in this man is?”

“ _He,_ is not my main concern,” Oni replied, folding his arms and leaning against the wall. “It is one of his recent employers that is my primary interest.”

“Ah, just for a simple chat, I wager?”

“No,” Oni deadpanned. “I want to rend his employer’s head from his fucking shoulders and stuff the whole thing back down his neck.”

Alice’s smirk subsided at that remark, her eyes widening in confusion that was then broken by amusement. She chuckled, then said, “Oh my, and what did this person do to warrant such ire from you, mage?”

Alice had thought Oni was being sarcastic, or at the very least attempting to be humorous, but when her eyes met his, she saw not but complete sincerity. His eyes burned as hot as his magic, wiping her smile from her face in a second.

“This employer,” Oni began, ignoring Alice’s outburst, “is a being of considerable power and influence. I will not even refer to him as a man, as he is far removed from such. You have spent what little life you are aware of isolated, Alice, barred from the true nature of this world. You want to know why so many people frequent your little cabaret? Because it’s not just for the cuisine or the hospitality.” Oni leaned forward, his movements almost indicating he meant to kiss the girl, but his expression remained steely and serious. Unblinking, he stared into Alice’s orange eyes, and spoke in a low tone. “They came to you to escape the harsh reality of this completely fucked up world we live in, Alice. As a matter of fact, this city is a haven, an Elysium from the outside world. Beyond these walls is a wilderness rife with beasts and horrors far beyond those wretched goblins you know so well.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Alice blurted, pushing Oni away.

The man stepped back, but his eyes never left hers. He still did not blink; his face seemed to indicate that he did not even know Alice had just almost pushed him to the ground. “We are in dangerous lands, sweetheart. And these dangerous lands have a king. In a land of liars, monsters, and sadists, it takes one far above even the people’s depths of depravity to rule over them all.”

Alice glared at Oni, feeling a twinge of fear creep up her chest and into her spine. “And… who is this king, Oni?”

The man smirked. “He who is so powerful in both magic and depravity, that he himself is known as… _Sadist._ ”

“Okay, now you must be pulling my leg,” Alice retorted. “And enough of the melodramatic shit. The lord of these lands is actually called Sadist?”

“That’s what he desires to be called, and so everyone does so. No one in their right mind would argue with the king on what he wants.”

“And what is it about him that makes you want to kill him?”

“A long and complicated story,” he replied dismissively.

“Of course, it fucking is!” Alice threw up her hands in agitation. “Sweet gods, have you any stories throughout your life, how great a tale it must be, that can be told in a way that is not ‘long and complicated’? What must I do to get a straight answer from you?”

“Oh, sweet naïve child,” Oni smirked and shook his head in the most condescending way possible. “You of all people ought to know that there is no such thing in life as _free_ or _straight_ answers.” Oni sat on the bed and folded his hands, his gaze falling to the floor. “In all honesty, Alice, I am in need of something from you. You see, the world truly is as dangerous as I describe it, if not more so, and I do not possess the strength and dexterity you do now, sweetheart. Where I am going—No, where _we_ are going would be far too much for someone like me. I am a mage, not a fighter. While I am considerably capable in the magical arts, there is no amount of magical prowess one like myself can ascertain to survive to the end of such a path.”

Alice’s glower grew colder as her associate prattled on, his signature snarky tone and mannerisms permeating even what should be a personal and difficult subject for him. Even while admitting some sort of supposed weakness, Oni still managed to sound utterly and insufferably condescending. “Are you surprised that I’m calling bullshit on everything you say?”

“No, but I am somewhat disappointed. No matter what you may call bullshit on, it is true nonetheless.”

“How can it be!? I am just a working girl, you are a pyromancer! Why would you ever need my help with anything save getting your rocks off after a breakup?”

Oni chuckled, that insufferable chuckle that made Alice want nothing more than to break open his skull, and stood to his feet, grinning from ear to ear in a way almost eerie. “What questions, my dear, what questions they are. Have you not picked up on what you are now? Mayhaps a working girl is still an adequate label, but not for such carnal services and pleasures. You are both a travelling companion and a mercenary, guarding and aiding me as we journey forward into the unknown, and in return for your cooperation, you will be compensated with both coin, and that which you dream of and desire most: freedom. And before we go into another roundabout concerning how strong you have become, remember that all the strength in the world will do as much good out there as a flask of water whilst drowning in lava. One needs both the power and the knowledge in order to survive.”

“And you are lacking the strength yet have the knowledge.”

“Indeed, sweetheart. And so, you will accompany me across this hellhole of a land.”

“Why do you need to travel in the first place though?” asked Alice. “What’s so important that you would journey across such dangerous lands?”

Oni’s lips pursed, as if he were biting his tongue inside his mouth. “I am…” he began slowly, “on a quest, of sorts, sweetheart. I have an important obligation to see through, and the first step to achieving success is to understand one’s weaknesses, then compensate for them. Pride cometh before a fall, of course.”

“This quest, then. What is it?”

Alice expected Oni to blow her off again, but instead he shrugged his shoulders and smacked his lips. “Well, I guess a mercenary is entitled to some information on their job. Have a seat, Alice, and I shall enlighten you of what I can, which sadly is not all.”

“Better than what you’ve given me until now,” Alice rolled her eyes at him as she sat down in the chair to her side, Oni sitting on the bed across from her.

“You have a point,” he nodded. “Well, in case you have not ascertained this yet, I am not from around here. This scummy hive of vices is not at all what I would consider to be home. I hate it probably a good portion as much as you do, Alice, which is saying a lot.”

“If you hate it half as much as talk, I would be surprised you haven’t razed this city to the ground yet.”

“Cheeky as always, dear,” Oni fake smiled at her. “Anyway, I came here seeking assistance, but was woefully unsuccessful on that front. Until I found you, that is. I saw the way you were treated by those fiends; I bore witness to them stringing you up like prized game and hanging you from the rafters. Seeing this made me realize that it was not a burly brute I was in need of, but someone with as much passion to burn this land as I have.”

“But you were not at the cabaret to find a girl to hire,” Alice retorted. “You were there to speak with Worthson.”

“Right again, Alice,” he nodded. “That wasn’t specifically part of my obligations, but his information did prove useful. One of his associates is our next target, and I have a feeling your strength will be instrumental in this little endeavor.”

“Well, I’m honored that you, a powerful mage, would have such need for a petite little girl with anger issues,” Alice responded in the most sarcastic tone she could muster.

“It is the power fueled by those anger issues that is a necessity to my cause.”

“And that cause is?”

Oni reached into his inside coat pocket and pulled out a bound leather flask of water, just a little larger in size than his hand. He unscrewed the cap and downed three large gulps then wiped off his mouth with the back of his hand. “My home is… far away,” he began. “It’s a little village nestled into a range of hills. I am told that once our population was four times its current size, though that was a long time ago, if it’s true at all. There are about three hundred of us in total, and that number dwindles every passing year.”

“And they need, what? Supplies? A new home?”

“Yes to both, but how we may go about that is another matter entirely.” Oni placed the flask back inside his coat pocket. “The village I hail from is comprised of a group of… apostates of the current order in these lands. When the Demon King Sadist rose to power, we were among the few who did not bow down at his feet at his mere presence. My ancestors stood against him in the name of our own god, rejecting his claim as the ruler of all the Nightscape. And, as you can probably guess, those with a god complex are not sympathetic to the beliefs of others who do not kiss their feet and worship them at all hours.”

“So, he’s a sadist and an egotist.”

“Immeasurable in both aspects.” Oni’s self-assured expression darkened before Alice’s very eyes; he appeared to be looking beyond her into some painful memory even though his gaze still met hers. “He is the personification of all evil and pain, and he relishes in that title. No common name, nor that of any lord, did he deem fitting for a creature as base and vile as he is, which is why he calls himself ‘Sadist’. It is a description, and an apt one at that. He believes himself to be the embodiment of the desire to inflict pain ad misery upon others. They say he had perfected the art of torture in ways once thought impossible. He does truly consider torture and killing to be an art unto itself, and as all artists strive for originality, so does he with the vile deeds he commits.”

In response to his expositional tirade, Alice cordially gave Oni the single most unimpressed expression she could possibly muster. Her brows furrowed and her eyelids were partly closed, her lips pursed and her jaw slightly clenched. “Are you actually trying to intimidate me?” she deadpanned. “It’s not that I don’t believe you, at this point I’d believe this world is so horrible that the sky is about to cave in on itself. But it still sounds… completely ridiculous. I’m also not the religious type, it just sounds like you went to war and lost.”

“One _could_ see it that way,” Oni glared at her, “but I’d dare say it would be a more accurate description to say that Sadist is a tyrannical monster, and a scourge on these lands. And so, for the sake of my people, I intend to rend his head from his shoulders, mount it on a pike and parade it throughout all the lands he’s subjugated.”

Alice could not look less impressed if she put all her will and might into trying. “So, I’m your bodyguard,” she deadpanned.

Oni slumped over, glowering at Alice. “If you want to take all the gravitas out of the situation, then yes. You’re my _bodyguard_. I find myself on a righteous and daring quest to save both my people and the world, and all you take from it is you are my bodyguard. Fuck it! As long as you come along, then just fuck it six ways from Sunday,” he threw his arms in the air and sat back on the bed.

Alice’s gaze remained lowered, but she could not help the smirk creeping to her face. “You are entertaining when you’re flustered, pyromancer,” she said in a faux cutesy tone. “Seeing such reactions will be a nice bonus on top of my understood monetary compensation.”

“How about every time you make those sorts of snides, I dock you a few percent from your payout?”

“We may be able to discuss it,” replied Alice flippantly. “Just… get us out of this town. Quickly.”

Oni looked at her with a confused expression, as if trying to read her meaning without asking her directly. “Giving _me_ orders now? What? Not a fan of the local cuisine or something?”

“You know damn well why I want out of here, and if you wish for me to provide any sort of help to your ‘righteous and daring quest’,” she made air quote signs with her fingers, “then you will kindly and swiftly escort me out of this gods forsaken shithole sans the incessant sarcasm. Agreed?”

Oni’s look of confusion turned to one more closely resembling admiration. “Your point is made, Angel,” he replied. “We leave soon. I have to fetch some supplies and then we will be on our way.” He stood to his feet and rung his hands together. “Rest now, because we won’t be stopping except when absolutely necessary.”

“You really think I need rest? I’ve felt tense, on edge almost constantly since you did,” she held out her blackened arms, “ _this_ to me.”

“Your body is likely still adapting to the changes, but give it a day or two and you will no longer notice it. At least it may keep you awake longer.”

Alice looked away from him. “I’m tired of being here,” she said curtly. “Just get the shit we need and let’s be no our way.”

“As you wish,” Oni bowed his head in an impressively sarcastic way. “I will be back momentarily.”

“Ah, hell no!” Alice called after him as he tried to leave as quickly as possible. “You will do no such thing. I’m your bodyguard after all, not some courtesan to be bossed around and left in the dust.”

“Need I respond to your choice of words?”

“No!”

“Fine, of course,” Oni opened the door for her, playing at some semblance of gentlemanly respect. “Shall I escort you out?”

“No.” 

Alice walked directly past him and out into the hall. Her icy glare stayed on her face the entire walk back to the front counter. Oni payed the rate to the innkeeper quickly and with little in the way of pleasantries before they made their way back out into the long, dark night. Alice felt a twinge of disappointment that Whilly was not there to see them off. She hoped she was alright, wherever the girl happened to be at the time. _Hopefully she’s just practicing her lute,_ she thought. _Safely in her room, alone…_

Before heading out on their grand adventure, Oni made his way to the stables by the inn to purchase a horse. Alice had never seen one close up, only glimpsing them when deliveries were made to the cabaret. The horse that Oni walked out with was tall but thin, with Alice able to look it directly in the eyes. Its hair was the color of sand, while its mane was that of mud. The horse sported an uncomfortable looking saddle and stirrups along with average sized leather saddlebags on its left and right side. Alice immediately noticed that the leather on all pieces of equipment was scratched, scuffed, and worn. It seemed like an entirely unremarkable creature as it lazily followed Oni, occasionally shaking its head back and forth.

“This is Seki,” Oni said, patting the horse on the neck. “He will be carrying our cargo, such as camping supplies and the like, and providing our legs rest when needed. He may not look like much, but he’s a well tenured work horse. Not much for races, but strong and sure.”

“He doesn’t look like he cost much.”

“He didn’t. But I lowered the price anyway.”

“And how did you do that?”

Oni led the horse on, smirking to himself. “What do you care? We’ll never be back here again anyway.”

Their first few steps along the empty sidewalk filled Alice with unforeseen apprehension. She had half expected herself to be giddy at the prospect of finally leaving this city behind. But instead of pleasant, excited butterflies fluttering in her stomach, she instead felt nervous, uptight, almost hazy. She swayed slightly side to side as she walked, paying little attention to the environment around her. It was not long before she nearly tripped over a stray rock as she became absorbed with her own inner thoughts, and then nearly tripped over another rock not long after.

“We’re coming to the gate,” Oni spoke up, bringing her back to reality. “Stay quiet, just like the inn. I’ll handle this quickly.” 

Alice rolled her eyes and folded her arms as they came upon a large gate of such dark wood she suspected it may be rotting. It was about twenty feet tall with two doors stretching eight feet across, which Alice surmised that the narrow doors would create an effective chokepoint in the event of raiding. To the gates sides were two twenty-five feet tall guard towers, with canopies able to hold about three men. The border walls spread out around them, encircling the city well off into the distance behind them. 

As they approached the gate, Alice noticed a shed to their right, the interior lit by a lamp. The lamplight fluttered and moved, and out of the shed appeared a slouched over middle-aged man in a dark cloak, holding the lamp in front of him.

The guard held out his lamp, squinting into the light which now stung Alice’s eyes, while Oni seemed unaffected. In a creaking, scratchy voice, the guard asked curtly, “Heading out, Masta’?”

“Indeed, sir,” said Oni with a nod. “My business takes me elsewhere, and I do not intend to waste a moment.”

The guard looked to Alice, scrutinizing her in the lamplight. Alice glared at him before averting her gaze. “Who’s she?” he asked.

“My associate, obviously.”

“She looks feisty, sir. Best keep her on a close leash, I reckon.”

_Fuck you too._

“Your advice is noted,” Oni lied with no attempt to hide his annoyance. “Let us pass.”

“Aye, Master, I meant no offense,” the guard nodded over and over as he turned back to the shed. The wooden gate creaked loudly before grinding against the ground as it opened. As the gate opened before them, Alice and Oni made their way through, seeing the vast field of dust and barren ground under the bright moonlight. Scattered across the rough terrain was the occasional dead looking bush, trees not much taller than of an average grown man, and hills rising up toward the sky in the distance. “Good luck out there, you two!” the guard called after them. “Lucky for you, the roads have been mostly quiet lately.”

Walking away, Alice leaned over to Oni and asked, “Mostly?”

“That’s why you’re here. You’ve proven very capable against hapless drunks, so I am curious to see how you will fare against a sober assailant.”

“I’m not an assassin, you know.”

“Oh, I know,” Oni nodded, not bothering to continue. 

The moon above was large and round, emanating blue and white light across the field and on to the horizon. Some miles off was what Alice perceived to be the Renell Mountains; she had heard some of the other girls at the cabaret claim to be from villages scattered about the mountain range. The mountains were capped with snow, appearing a muted blue color in the moonlight. It was in this moment that Alice realized just how large the world truly was outside of her previous home.

Her mind was befuddled by the notion, barely able to comprehend the idea that there was so much to this world beyond her cell. Everywhere she looked, she saw something new. She saw small, thin trees swaying in the dry breeze, and beneath them on the ground was the occasional flower. Most were wilting or dead, but some clung to life for likely only a day or two more. Despite her strength, the vastness of the outside world left Alice feeling as weak and fleeting as the flowers she passed. 

She knew not how large the world was – did land end beyond the mountains? Perhaps there was nothing and no on the other side of their cliffs. Or to the contrary, was there even more wondrous world to explore beyond its snowy caps? To her left and right, the land seemed to go on forever until it met the dark horizon. And while the idea of such a large world frightened her to some degree, she also felt a rebellious and excited desire to venture on until she finally met that horizon, for whatever village, or kingdom, or hut, or field of nothing such as this one awaited her, as long as it was far away from the cabaret as she could possibly be, that was where she wished to live out her days.

The horse clopped along the fading dirt trail, providing the only notable sound in the field. There seemed to be no animals, no bugs, not even the whistle of the wind. To Alice, the field was like a void, empty and still. It was eerie and uncomfortable, like the quiet was closing in on her, tightening its grip on her very being. She shook her head to dispel such thoughts and focused on the clopping of Seki. _This is my life now,_ she thought. _At least I have room to move_.

Their duo was now a trio, if one were to count the horse. And when the agonizing silence began to agitate her, Alice looked onto the mountains, thinking of running through the snow and looking down on the world. She did not know what snow felt like, but she had always wondered. Was it like sand? Powder? Something else entirely? As they walked through the silence, she imagined the snow under her feet, the wind kissing her cheek as she ran across the top of the world.

She was truly, finally, free. And this brought her some small comfort.


End file.
